On Thursday 14 March, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Peter Stano, spokesman for the European External Action Service, said that the presidential election to be held in Russia from 15 to 17 March would be neither free nor fair.
“The elections in Russia will not be free and fair”, Mr Stoltenberg explained to the media. He recalled that free and fair elections required competition, different lists, open debate and a free and independent press, which is not the case in Russia.
Mr Stano also felt that it was “very difficult” to foresee this election as “free, fair and democratic”, in which the Russian people “could really have a choice”.
Mr Stoltenberg and Mr Stano pointed out that the opponents were either in prison, in exile or dead.
The two men also reiterated that holding the election in the regions “temporarily” occupied by Russia in Ukraine was “illegal”. Mr Stano warned that the EU would not recognise the elections in these regions. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)