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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| OSCE to boycott Russian election | OSCE to boycott Russian election |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Europe's main election watchdog has said it will boycott Russia's presidential election on 2 March. | |
| "We regret that circumstances prevent us from observing this election," said Spencer Oliver, general secretary of the OSCE's Parliamentary Assembly. | |
| The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has been arguing with Russia over the size and scope of the observers' mission. | The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has been arguing with Russia over the size and scope of the observers' mission. |
| The watchdog rejected concessions by Moscow aimed at averting a boycott. | The watchdog rejected concessions by Moscow aimed at averting a boycott. |
| Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said no self-respecting country would bow to ultimatums of the kind set by the OSCE. | |
| 'Limitations' | |
| The OSCE's parliamentary assembly announced its decision in a letter sent to the Russian parliament. | |
| "We unfortunately cannot accept your invitation to send a limited number of observers to Russia for the presidential election," assembly President Goran Lennmarker said in the letter. | |
| Mr Lennmarker also mentioned "other conditions and circumstances", without specifying. | |
| Separately, the OSCE's election monitoring wing - the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) - said it would not send observers because of "limitations" imposed by Moscow. | |
| The ODIHR and Russia's election commission have been involved in a row over the size and time schedule of the observers' mission. | |
| The ODIHR on Wednesday rejected a commission offer designed to avert a boycott. Russia said it would allow ODIHR observers to arrive on 20 February - a week earlier than Moscow had originally wanted. | |
| The commission also accepted an increase in the number of monitors, from 70 to 75. | |
| But the ODIHR said the offer did not go far enough, insisting on 15 February as the start date. | |
| The monitors had argued that arriving just three days before the vote would mean they could not monitor the election campaign to see if it was free and fair for all candidates, including their access to Russia's media. |