MOSCOW, October 25 (RIA Novosti) - The upcoming early parliamentary elections in Ukraine won't be attended by observers from the Russian State Duma, chairman of the Duma’s committee on ex-Soviet states Leonid Slutsky told RIA Novosti Saturday.
"Observers from the Duma won't work at the elections to the [Verkhovna] Rada," Slutsky told the agency.
The State Duma said earlier that it had not received any letters or invitations to participate in the observation of elections in Ukraine. Usually such invitations come no later than one month before the elections.
The elections in Ukraine will take place on October 26. Ukrainians will vote for the parliament’s 424 members — 225 of them are to be elected by party lists with the election threshold set at five percent, and 199 by single-seat constituencies.
A total of 29 political parties are expected to take part in the Verkhovna Rada election. Petro Poroshenko Bloc, backed by the incumbent president, is considered to be the undisputed leader, with an approval rating of about 25 percent.
On Thursday head of the Kremlin staff, Sergei Ivanov said that Russia will recognize the parliamentary elections in Ukraine.
