Following hours of talks a group of Russian citizens representing a CIS election monitoring group was allowed to enter Ukraine after being stopped on the ex-Soviet nation's border, a mission deputy chief said.
On Saturday morning, Ukrainian border guards stopped 92 observers from the CIS Election Monitoring Organization (CIS-EMO) going from Russia to Ukraine's Donetsk Region to monitor a presidential runoff on Sunday citing a lack of papers.
"After hours of talks..., border guards allowed observers from our organization entry to Ukraine," Alexei Martynov said.
He explained that all the monitors had been officially registered with Ukraine's Central Election Commission but had no mandates on them.
Martynov said the group was allowed to cross the Ukrainian border after their monitoring powers had been confirmed.
The CIS-EMO organization, established and registered in Russia in 2003, has been sending election observers to almost all member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States since 2004.
On Sunday, Ukraine will hold the runoff between frontrunner Viktor Yanukovych, who collected 35.32% of the votes in the first round on January 17, and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who came second with 25.05%.
KIEV, February 6 (RIA Novosti)
