Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin does not intend to meet with representatives from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) who have arrived in Russia to observe the presidential election, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“There is no such meeting in Putin’s schedule,” Peskov said.
The PACE observers arrived in Moscow yesterday. They will assess Russia's electoral legislation and electoral campaigns leading up to the March 4 vote.
On Thursday the observers plan to meet with members of the Russian delegation to PACE and presidential candidates. A meeting with Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), has already taken place. The observers are scheduled to meet later with Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov and Sergei Mironov, leader of A Just Russia.
On February 10 the PACE representatives will meet with billionaire presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov and ombudsman Vladimir Lukin.
They had also expected to meet with Putin, who is running for president as the candidate for the ruling United Russia party.
This is the first mission by PACE observers monitoring the Russian election. The second mission, consisting of 30 people, will come to Russia just before the March 4 vote.
