Moscow hopes Ukraine elects legitimate, democratic parliament - Naryshkin
MOSCOW. Sept 13 (Interfax) - State Duma Chairman Sergei Naryshkin has said that Moscow is interested in seeing a legitimate and democratic Verkhovna Rada formed after the September 26 elections, but the pre-election situation in Ukraine has so far been unfavorable.
"Certainly, it is an essential and important event in the Ukrainian political history; and we would very much like this event to be with the plus sign and the elections to lead to the creation of a legitimate, stable, democratic legislative power in our fraternal country instead of further legitimization of nationalists and even National Socialists," Naryshkin said in an interview with Russian agencies on Saturday.
However, preliminary assessments of the situation in which the elections will be held have been alarming, he said. "Of course, there is skepticism," the politician said.
In particular, there is "skepticism about them (elections) being free and democratic," he said. This is due to several very important factors, he said.
"Could elections be called entirely free in an environment where mass media and the freedom of speech are severely restricted?" Naryshkin asked.
Ukraine has stopped broadcasting most Russian television channels, a large group of our journalists have been blacklisted, Russian journalists get violently assaulted, four of them were killed, he said.
"Thank God, a truce has now been declared in the civil war. We would very much like it not to be temporary but final, and conducive to peace. But so far this has been a truce amidst - let's put it honestly - a civil war. So the extent to which these elections will be free and democratic under such conditions, too, raises very many questions," Naryshkin said.
Besides, "the extent to which the elections are democratic and free should be questioned as the factions of two political parties have effectively been dispersed within several months; so this is a very big issue about fair political competition," the speaker said.
Another serious problem is refugees, he said. About one million Ukrainians have fled their home towns and houses in fear of death; around 815,000 have gone over to Russia, he recalled. "And it is obvious that a bigger part of this number will simply be physically unable to take part in the elections. This, too, is a big issue. So I repeat, there has been great skepticism," Naryshkin added.
