They made the decision on the grounds that Russia usually invites more observers and that the invitations normally come several months prior to elections, which allow them to monitor not only the voting but also the election campaign. This time, the invitations were sent only in late October.
In this context, the Central Election Commission divided the ODIHR's quota between observers from other international organizations. Thus, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will now send 40 observers instead of about 30, as was planned before.
The first group of foreign observers has already arrived in Russia and is anxious to start working. Why is this routine situation leading to conflict?
President Vladimir Putin said there is information that the ODIHR's refusal was masterminded by Washington, notably, by the U.S. Department of State. It seems that the West is again displeased with the level of Russian democracy.
We suspect that the Europeans, who are already mistrustful about the Russian elections, were going to launch a humiliating procedure of large-scale meticulous verification. But what were they going to check if they know in advance that Russia has no democracy or not enough democracy? This is the old question of definitions - is a glass half empty or half full?
Some observers are coming to Russia, whereas others are looking for reasons not to come. These two processes are parallel - some are working to promote cooperation between Europe and Russia, whereas others are trying to verify whether Russia matches their standards of democracy. This discussion is timed with the Russian elections.
Needless to say, the elections should conform to certain democratic standards, but these should not turn into detailed instructions of a visa application, any violation of which entails immediate reprimand.
Standards are a framework rather than a stick for beating up personas non grata; all the more so since the authors of these instructions do not always give the right answers themselves. This is an absurd situation because it is common knowledge that there are no uniform standards of democracy and because those who approved the standards often violate them themselves.
Screwing up lips and reprimanding Russia for shortcomings and imperfections will lead nowhere. Not a single decent state will allow anyone to teach it "to live correctly." This primarily applies to Russia with its injured self-respect, especially when so much is said about the onslaught of democracy in Afghanistan, Iraq, Georgia and Kosovo. This is why Russia's reaction is so tough.
Be it as it may, but on December 2 we will vote for the party we want despite some skeptical Western attitudes to our democracy.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
