The reaction of the West following the recent elections in Romania and Georgia demonstrates the selective application of principles that Western countries have defended for years, openly using them to interfere in the affairs of other states, stated Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko. He maintains that Russia „never” interferes in elections.
A former permanent representative of Russia to NATO, currently the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Grushko explained in an interview with the newspaper Kommersant how Moscow views the cancellation of the presidential elections in Romania.
He said he is not prepared to offer a legal assessment of the decision to cancel the elections that took place "in a normal atmosphere." "This legal assessment was even made by the presidential candidates," he said, referring to the statements of Calin Georgescu, who stated that the CCR decision represents an abuse.
"Russia, as we know, never interferes in elections. But the current situation is a sign of the disturbances observed today in the European Union and in the West as a whole. It indicates that those canons and postulates that the West has insisted on in recent years are collapsing," Grushko stated.
The Russian official believes that the OSCE has ceased to be an adequate structure for the role of unification, inclusion, and working for the harmonization of the interests of all member countries of the organization. "In general, election results should be determined not by some external observers, but by the will of the people, who choose either the parliament or other government bodies," he emphasized.
The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister accused the West of "never hesitating to give advice." "For example, in Moldova. This is a serious interference in internal affairs. But they believe they have the right to do so, because it is 'a rules-based order,'" detailed the Russian official.
"These rules are written in Brussels, so all processes in this area must be subordinated to the interests of Brussels. And if suddenly someone deviates from this, then the harshest, inappropriate, dishonest, and shameless pressure methods are used," he continued.
The cancellation of election results in Romania and the declaration of the elections in Georgia as undemocratic by the West are interconnected events, as they fall in line with the behavior of the West, according to the Russian official.
"This is a line that aims to suppress the will of any people and any political personalities who begin to be guided by national interests in their actions. And regardless of the support they receive from the people, in the eyes of the West, they will still be proscribed, persecuted, and put under pressure because they do not pursue the liberal policy expected of them," Grushko said.
Asked if Russia will draw the attention of the world community to the situation in Romania, the Deputy Minister reiterated Russia's non-involvement in the internal affairs of other countries: "We never interfere in internal affairs; we try to be very careful when evaluating internal political processes."
"But when such events occur, of course, we consider ourselves entitled to remind our partners of those principles of behavior in the international field that they must respect and not attempt to 'correct the situation' in cases where the outcome of the same elections does not serve our interests," he specified.
T.D.