Moscow, 12 November: Representatives of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) have not yet undergone the accreditation procedure to send its observers to the Russian parliamentary election, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.

"To get a visa, foreign observers have to submit their accreditation to the Russian Central Electoral Commission. The ODIHR was informed about this when the invitations were sent out," Andrey Krivtsov, deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry information and media department, told Interfax on Monday [12 November].

The Russian side sent the relevant forms that must be filled in order to get accreditation to the Russian Central Electoral Commission together with the invitations, he said. "These forms can even be found on the website of the Russian Central Electoral Commission on the Internet," Krivtsov said.

However, "not a single application for accreditation has yet been received which could possibly be explained by the fact that there is no proper order in the ODIHR itself," he added.

Representatives of the OSCE ODIHR said earlier that they could not send their observers to Russia because they had not been issued with entry visas. [Passage omitted].