Moscow, 14 November: Observers from the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) have still not received entry visas for Russia to take part in monitoring the State Duma election on 2 December.

"There have been no changes," Urdur Gunnarsdottir, official representative of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), has told Interfax.

Earlier she denied accusations that the office was politicizing the situation over the delay in issuing visas and accreditation for observers invited to take part in monitoring the parliamentary election.

"That is absolutely wrong," the ODIHR representative told Interfax on Tuesday (13 November), replying to a comment from the Foreign Ministry's press and information department that accused the ODIHR of "attempts to lay the responsibility for (their) own sluggishness on the inviting party, and to try to give this a political subtext to boot".

"We never make political statements. I don't want to comment on who is to blame in the situation. We are not accusing anyone," Gunnarsdottir said.

"We are simply stating that there is a delay in receiving visas. First, we applied to the Russian side for visas, then for accreditation. This is the normal practice," she said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry yesterday stressed that delays with the accreditation for the OSCE observers for the parliamentary election in Russia were related to the fact that the corresponding applications were not received in due time. (Passage omitted: previously reported quotation from Foreign Ministry statement).