The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has rejected claims that its refusal to issue visas to two Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observers is related to the upcoming parliamentary elections, spokesman Andrei Savinykh said Thursday.
“These citizens are foreigners who are deemed undesirable in terms of entry into Belarus,” Savinykh said, adding that the Belarusian authorities remain "committed to constructive cooperation with the OSCE mission."
On Wednesday, the Belarusian authorities denied visas to Lithuanian Emanuelis Zingeris and German Marieluise Beck, two members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly who had planned to travel to Belarus as short-term observers for the September 23 elections.
The OSCE responded by requesting a full explanation from the authorities. Matteo Mecacci, the OSCE's special coordinator leading the mission to the country, stressed that he wanted “to make sure that the atmosphere for the upcoming Election Observation Mission will remain calm and so that our work can continue without restrictions or limitations.”
