Canada is concerned of the presidential election in Ukraine to be transparent, and will provide $ 25 million to ensure security from external interference attempts. This was stated by Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland during a Ukrainian lunch at the Munich Security Conference, reports Novoye Vremya.
In addition, more than 100 people will come to Ukraine from Canada to monitor the integrity of the elections.
“Many people in Ukraine are frustrated with reforms, there are many such persons even among my friends. Therefore, Ukrainians should get fair elections in order to decide who will rule their country,” Freeland said.
“Join Canada and the OSCE to ensure the transparency of the Ukrainian elections,” Freeland addressed representatives of the State Department and the European Commission who were present at the lunch.
The presidential election in Ukraine will be held on March 31, 2019.
Russia intends to send short-term observers within the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to Ukraine during the presidential elections, as the commentary of the Information Department and Russia’s Foreign Ministry reported.
“Russian side wants to use its right to participate in the international observation of elections in another OSCE member state, in Ukraine in this case. Our actions are based on mutual obligations of all the OSCE member states to provide free access to the elections for the observers. This should guarantee transparent and democratic elections,” the message says.
It was reported that Russia would propose candidates to the OSCE/ODIHR under the received invitations.
“We expect that they will be provided with all the necessary conditions to implement functions of the international observation,” the representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.