Putin says U.S. is meddling in Russian election

MOSCOW-President Vladimir Putin Monday accused the United States of trying to taint the legitimacy of upcoming Russian parliamentary elections by pressing a group of prominent independent election observers to abandon their attempts to monitor the campaign.Putin contended that the election monitors, who are deployed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, had canceled their plans to monitor the parliamentary balloting because of pressure from the State Department in Washington.Putin's statements in recent weeks have taken on an increasingly nationalistic tone as he has sought to muster support for his party in the balloting on Sunday. Speaking to reporters Monday in St. Petersburg, he once again criticized what he suggested was foreign meddling in Russia's affairs."According to information we have, it was again done at the recommendation of the U.S. State Department and we will take this into account in our inter-state relations with this country," he said. "Their goal is the delegitimization of the elections. But they will not achieve even this goal."In focusing on the supposed role of the State Department in the decision, Putin was highlighting a charge first made on Nov. 19 by the chairman of Russia's Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov.

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As in the days of Noah....