The European Union used a summit with Russia today to highlight concerns over claims of massive fraud during this month’s Russian parliamentary elections. Russia’s December 4 State Duma elections and their aftermath — including the detention of demonstrators — were not officially on the agenda of the summit, which otherwise focused on economic and visa liberalization issues.
But the EU made clear in the run-up that it would raise its worries with Dmitry Medvedev during his last summit with the bloc as Russia’s president. EU President Herman Van Rompuy told a news conference after the summit that the EU had been perturbed by election monitors’ reports of irregularities and lack of fairness in the December 4 vote, and about the detention of protesters.
On the other hand, Van Rompuy did note that “the recent large demonstrations were peaceful and the authorities, in my view, handled it very well.”
Tens of thousands of Russians protested in Moscow on December 10 and on previous days calling for the election to be rerun after widespread allegations the vote was rigged to favor the ruling United Russia party.
Full Article: Brussels Raises Election Concerns At Russia Summit.