Armenia Unofficially Rejects Accreditation for Several Russian Election Observers, Zakharova Says

MOSCOW — Armenia has unofficially rejected the accreditation of several Russian citizens who were expected to observe the June 7 elections, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

According to Zakharova, Russia had sent Armenia lists of Russian observers as part of the CIS election observation mission so they could receive accreditation. However, she said the Armenian side unofficially informed Moscow that the inclusion of several Russian citizens in the mission was undesirable.

“We asked for the reasons. We have not received an official response from Yerevan, including regarding the motives behind this decision. We have no idea what crime these individuals could commit against Armenia,” Zakharova said.

She suggested that the decision may be linked to the fact that some of the individuals are on the European Union sanctions list, calling it “a manifestation of official Yerevan’s bowing before the EU leadership.”

“We deeply regret the decision to deny accreditation to the Russians. We are not prepared to accept this logic and will be forced to take it into account in our future work with Yerevan,” Zakharova added.