BRUSSELS. Nov 1 - Russia has no obligations to the European Union on election monitoring: therefore, there should be no reaction form the EU regarding the Russian Central Elections Commission's decision to limit the number of foreign observers at the upcoming parliamentary elections, Russian Permanent Envoy to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov said.

"EMPs can naturally come as part of an OSCE group, and they are welcome," he said, noting that no foreign observers monitored the European Parliament elections in 2004.

Invitations, Chizhov said, are sent to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), CIS, Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials (ACEEEO), as well as some countries on a bilateral basis, including some countries of the European Union.

"Yes, there were more observers at the last State Duma elections, they studied our election system carefully enough then, so there is no need for a large group of observers now," Chizhov said.

It is not appropriate to say that the decision of the Central Elections Commission of Russia is unprecedented. The U.S. has refused to let in any observers until recently, and "even now monitoring is rather defective there." In some countries, including in Great Britain, the obligation assumed within the OSCE to invite foreign observers has not been incorporated in the national legislation.

"Our election law is more democratic and liberal than most of the laws in Western Europe," Chizhov said.

Chizhov noted that Poland did not allow OSCE observers to monitor its past parliamentary elections and reviewed its decision only after Brussels exerted pressure, apparently.

"Although, to be fair, I have to say that Poland's resistance had some legitimacy, because the OSCE observers' assessments do not meet the golden standard they often are made out to be, but on the contrary, are quite disputable," Chizhov said.