The decision of the Central Election Commission of Abkhazia caused bewilderment of Krasnodar colleagues

Alexander Gnevyshev, deputy chairman of the TEC Prikubanskaya of Krasnodar, commented on the situation with the "refusal of the Central Election Commission of Abkhazia to allow Russian observers to the presidential elections of the republic," reports livekuban.ru .

"Abkhazia is our closest neighbor, with whom we have long—standing economic, cultural and simply human ties, so the Kuban people are always ready to come to the aid of the friendly people of Abkhazia, whatever it may be expressed, and have always done so, including the most difficult times for the people of Abkhazia," Gnevyshev said.

According to him, the participation of Russian observers could strengthen confidence in the election process.

"When my colleagues and I received a proposal from the CEC of Russia to take part in international observation at the upcoming presidential elections of the Republic, we unanimously agreed ... However, at the last moment, the CEC of Abkhazia decided to limit the participation of Russian observers, which in fact made their presence impossible. Against this background, the adoption of the decision by the Central Election Commission of Abkhazia on the limited participation of representatives of Russia in the observation at the very last moment, when it is practically impossible to do it organizationally, causes, to put it mildly, a certain bewilderment," said the representative of the Krasnodar TICK.

He noted that in 2019, on behalf of the CEC of Russia, he was already an observer in Abkhazia at the same elections of the President of the republic "and was pleasantly surprised how interested the Abkhaz side was then."

"What happened now and what are the motives for this — we can only guess," he added.

Earlier, the chairman of the commission of the Public Chamber of Russia on public control and work with citizens' appeals, Alena Bulgakova, said that "the restriction of the work of observers in Abkhazia speaks either about the sluggishness of the election commission or about the sabotage of the opposition."

"The Republic of Abkhazia has clearly marked the "selective" approach of the Central Election Commission of the Republic to the accreditation of international observers, which prevents the possibility of full-fledged observation from the Russian side. Russia has submitted an application for accreditation of more than 200 people as international observers within the time limits set by law, but no response has been received so far. Deadlines do not allow organizing work in any way," Bulgakova said during a round table organized by the EIS.

She believes that "the Central Election Commission of Abkhazia succumbed to artificially created pressure, thinking about what decision to make, and as a result disrupted all deadlines, citing a large number of applications." It was this "delay that jeopardized the possibility of high-quality observation" of the February 15 elections, Bulgakova said.

The Parallel Z telegram channel claims that "the Central Election Commission of Abkhazia refused accreditation to 200 Russian observers, including representatives of the Public Chamber, and delegations of the Federation Council, the State Duma and the CEC of the Russian Federation decided not to participate in monitoring the elections."

After such accusations, the Central Election Commission of Abkhazia stated that the commission had received a large number of applications from various organizations and countries, and the final list of observers would be announced on February 14.

The members of the CEC of Abkhazia in full signed a statement in support of the chairman of the commission Dmitry Marshan.