Foreign Ministry not to register Russian observers in presidential election - Klimkin

He said this at a joint press conference with Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek, an Ukrinform correspondent said.

"We have clearly said that the Foreign Ministry will not register official observers from the Russian Federation in the next election. This is our political stance. It is evidence that Russia is an aggressor state and it is even legally impossible to allow Russian official observers to enter Ukraine. Therefore, we sent a respective official appeal to the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights that Russian observers could not be here," the minister said.

According to him, "respective precedents" had already been recorded in the OSCE's history.

"Everything is very clear here. Russia may say anything it wants regarding its aspirations but Russian observers cannot by definition be present in this election," the official said.

Klimkin also recalled that according to the current legislation, there are two bodies in Ukraine that can register official observers - the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Central Election Commission (CEC).

In this context, he expressed hope that the CEC would not register Russian official observers in the presidential election.

"There's simply no place in Ukraine for those who organize illegitimate elections in occupied Crimea and in occupied Donbas and for their official observers," Klimkin said.

On January 21, Russia's Central Election Commission said that it had prepared a list of those who, according to Moscow, should become observers in Ukraine's presidential election on March 31 from the OSCE.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry officially informed the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) that it would not accept applications from holders of Russian passports for registration as official observers from foreign states or international organizations.

Ukraine's Central Election Commission urged foreign states and international organizations, when making decisions to send official observers to the March 31 presidential election, to take into account the fact that Russia was recognized as an aggressor state in Ukraine.