Eskender Bariiev, Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Head of the Department of Legal Affairs and Foreign Affairs of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, commented on the blocking of the OSCE annual meeting by the Russian Federation, which was scheduled for September 27 in Warsaw. The expert believes that such behavior of the Russian Federation is connected not only with the issues of the occupation of Crimea and the Donbas, but also with the last elections to the State Duma.
“The fact that Russia blocked the OSCE meeting on human dimension issues is connected not only with the occupation of Crimea and the Donbas, but also with the last elections to the State Duma. On the basis of these elections, certain false aggravations of the situation by Russia took place in connection with the fact that the OSCE mandate has the right to monitor elections in countries that belong to this organization. This year, the Russian Federation has limited the presence of OSCE observers at the elections. As a result, the OSCE refused to delegate its observers altogether, and, consequently, had no opportunity to confirm their legitimacy. And this is one of the reasons why Russia behaves this way”,- Bariiev explained.
The expert added that the OSCE is one of the largest platforms where both the public sector and the OSCE participating States take part. Ukraine has repeatedly used such sites, and Russia has systematically tried to present the so-called correct Crimean Tatars and correct Ukrainians there.