“There is such information,” he said. “I cannot speak specifically.”

According to Borisov, agents “came to Yugoslavia, Georgia, Ukraine.” “The result is known to all,” he said, apparently referring to bloodless “color revolutions” which took place in those countries. The CEC member added that “today there is absolutely no democracy in the OSCE.” Borisov went on to say that monitors from the West have exerted political pressure on Russian election officials.

Russia has been critical of European electoral monitors, while observers have complained of increasing efforts on the part of authorities to stymie their work. In February, the OSCE cancelled its missions to the Russian presidential election citing interference from authorities. A December 2007 mission was critical of the way Parliamentary elections were handled.

Government critics have pointed out widespread electoral violations in Russia and have suggested that the results of both Parliamentary and Presidential elections were largely falsified. One computer expert created statistical models indicating that results were most likely “rounded up” by local electoral commissions.

The OSCE has denied that it has any intention of politicizing electoral monitoring missions.

Still, Borisov was starkly critical of the organization in a separate interview with the Vesti news program on July 20th. “The OSCE proclaims its adherence to democratic principles and methods,” he said, “but it works in a different way.

“Russia is trying to rescue the international election monitoring institute,” he went on. “We suggest clear-cut principles of election monitoring: transparency, collegiality, impartiality, respect for sovereign rights of a host country and so on. Everyone, including our Western partners, agree with that.”

Borisov’s statements come simultaneously with a new proposal by the CEC to drastically reform the OSCE. As the Gazeta.ru online newspaper reports on July 23rd, Russia suggested sweeping reforms at an OSCE electoral monitoring conference, which took place from July 21st to the 22nd in Vienna.

Alexander Ivanchenko, the head of the Russian Center for Electoral Techniques Training within the CEC, noted one proposal that would effectively shut out Western European observers altogether:

“Participation in international election monitoring should only be open to representatives of countries whose laws contain provisions on the institution of international observation and have an established practice of inviting international observers to monitor their own elections.”

Russia takes an active role in its own international monitoring projects, and will send a mission to monitor the US presidential election this fall.

The watchdog arm of the OSCE and its Parliamentary Assembly would normally send two independent missions, but both divisions have decided to boycott the race.

“We made every effort in good faith to deploy our mission, even under the conditions imposed by the Russian authorities,” said Ambassador Christian Strohal, director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE’s monitoring arm. “The Russian Federation has created limitations that are not conducive to undertaking election observation.”

News of restrictions imposed on the monitoring body was playing out in recent weeks, and the decision came as no surprise to many. Russia had initially invited 70 ODIHR monitors to arrive on February 28th, just 3 days before the vote. The group had reiterated that this was not enough time for a complete mission, and had asked Moscow to move the date earlier, to February 15th. As recently as 2004, some 400 monitors from the ODIHR were present for the election, arriving weeks before the date to track candidate registration, campaigning, government use of resources, and media coverage.

The group pulled their most recent mission in December, 2007 due to visa delays.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, criticized the demands. “This is called an ultimatum. Self-respecting countries do not accept ultimatums,” Lavrov said.

Strohal countered Lavrov’s claims, saying that “an election is more than what happens on election day.”

“What is true for every election is also true for this one: transparency strengthens democracy; politics behind closed doors weakens it,” he added.

“This is not an argument over five days,” said Curtis Budden, the ODIHR acting spokesman.” The point is that Russia is not willing to provide the absolute minimal conditions necessary for effective observation.”

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) also withdrew its mission after Russia invited just 30 of its monitors. The group had expected to send at least one representative of each of its 55 member parliaments, as has been customary in the past.