Due to severe restrictions imposed by the Russian government, the European Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said that it will not send observers to monitor the upcoming presidential elections.The restrictions placed by the Russian government seems to have come directly out of the Foreign Policy article highlighted by our post, How to be a political consultant to dictators.

The restrictions as reported by the IHT:

The limitations, diplomats have said in recent weeks, include Russia’s refusal to allow a typical set of long-term observers access to the country; these observers monitor candidate registration, news media content, the government’s use of state resources, and conduct during the campaign period.

Russia has also barred a much larger set of short-term observers, who typically monitor government conduct on Election Day, as well as voting and vote-counting. Instead, it has invited only a small mission for a limited time.

As recently as 2004, Russia permitted more than 400 monitors to its elections, and allowed long-term observers to arrive and work several weeks before the vote.

For the presidential election this year, which has been tightly scripted by the Kremlin and lacks a serious opposition candidate, Russia invited 70 monitors from the organization. It had also said the observers could not begin work in the field until a few days before the election.

In negotiations between the Central Election Commission in Russia and the monitors this week, Russia offered to allow the observers to begin their work Feb. 20, less than two weeks before the vote.

Diplomats at the monitoring organization said that Russia’s second offer remained insufficient. For the observers to have the chance to conduct a meaningful, though diminished, mission, they would need to arrive in Russia on Feb. 15 and begin their work Feb. 18, the diplomats said.

Russia refused to allow them access that early, and the negotiations broke down, leading to the cancellation.