Ukraine’s Poroshenko signs law that prohibits Russian citizens to be observers at elections

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed the law that prohibits Russian citizens and people proposed by Russia to act as official observers at elections in the country. The law was “returned with the president’s signature,” the Ukrainian parliament said. On February 7, Verkhovna Rada introduced amendments to three laws on elections in Ukraine, banning Russian citizens from being official observers both personally and within international organizations at presidential, parliamentary or local elections. The law says that it will come into force the next day following official publication in the media. Peter Taylor, head of the Election Monitoring Mission of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), said earlier that Ukraine’s position on observers from Russia does not correspond to the OSCE principles, according to TASS.