MOSCOW, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Moscow has agreed to join a short-term mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to monitor Ukraine's presidential election, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
"The Russian side intends to exercise its right to participate in international election observations in another OSCE member state, in this case, Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement.
"Our actions are based on the mutual commitments of all OSCE countries to ensure unhindered access of observers to each other's elections," it added.
Last week, the ministry issued a statement saying that Russia would abstain from sending representatives to monitor Ukraine's March 31 presidential election over security concerns.
The move came after Kiev refused to accredit two long-term Russian observers and the Ukrainian parliament passed a bill banning Russians from monitoring the race.
Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), in a letter to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed her regret over Kiev's decision.
She stressed that observers sent to take part in ODIHR election observations missions do not represent their respective countries, but rather the entire OSCE.
On Tuesday, ODIHR invited Russian short-term observers to Ukraine, which has been in constant conflict with Russia since 2014 due to Crimea and Donbass.
Russia accepted the invitation, expecting that the observers will be provided with all the necessary conditions for performing their functions, the foreign ministry statement read.
Short-term observers from ODIHR missions conduct monitoring only on the election day, while long-term members track the entire course of the electoral process before, on and after the polling day.
