Russian Lawmakers Head to U.S. to Monitor Midterm Elections
Russian Lawmakers Head to U.S. to Monitor Midterms
(Bloomberg) -- Two Russian lawmakers are taking part in an international monitoring mission to the U.S. midterm elections, amid controversy in Washington about alleged Kremlin meddling in the campaign.
Artem Turov From the ruling United Russia party and Alexei Kornienko from the Communist party are part of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s observer mission to the U.S. from Nov. 2 to Nov. 8, Turov said Friday in an interview.
“It’s a regular monitoring mission,” said Turov, who said he’s making his first trip to the U.S. and worked previously as an election monitor in Turkey and Georgia. The lawmakers don’t plan meetings or activities beyond the OSCE mission, he said.
U.S. officials have accused Russia of meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign to try to help Donald Trump to win, and of interfering in the midterm contests taking place on Nov. 6. Russia denies any interference in the elections. The U.S. refused to allow Russian diplomats and observers to take part in monitoring missions during the presidential elections, Kommersant reported in 2016.
To contact the reporter on this story: Stepan Kravchenko in Moscow at skravchenko@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Tony Halpin
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