OREANDA-NEWS. September 09, 2010. A conversation took place in Moscow on September 8 between Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov and Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Janez Lenarcic, who is on a working visit to Russia.

Long-term aspects of Russian cooperation with the ODIHR, questions pertaining to reform of the Office, observation of national elections, preparations for an upcoming OSCE Summit in Astana in December 2010, and the situation in Kyrgyzstan and Transcaucasia were discussed.

Lavrov spoke for the expeditious development and approval at intergovernmental level of the ODIHR rules of activity in the area of observation of national elections and for the abandonment of geographical and functional distortions in the activity of the Office and of the use of “double standards” in the assessment of the situation in individual member states.

Lenarcic expressed the readiness to engage constructively with the Russian side and interest in continuing the dialogue on the most topical issues of the ODIHR agenda.