Putin Says Us is Behind Poll Experts' Boycott

President Vladimir Putin yesterday launched another venomous attack on the United States, accusing the state department of being behind a decision by international experts not to monitor Russia's parliamentary elections on Sunday.

Putin claimed the Americans had instructed the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to boycott the poll. The Bush administration's aim was to discredit the election, he said.

The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the largest election monitoring body, dismissed Putin's allegation as "nonsense".

It announced earlier this month that it would not be monitoring the December 2 vote because, it said, Russia had frustrated attempts by its experts to get visas.

However, Putin said that Russia had firm evidence that the US had pressurized the OSCE to withdraw its mission. As a result, he said he was reviewing Moscow's bilateral relationship with Washington.

"This was done at the advice of the US state department. We will undoubtedly take this into account in our relations with that country. Their goal clearly is to make elections look illegitimate. But they won't succeed," Putin declared.

The attack is indicative of the growing chill in Russian-US relations, and comes after a torrid year that has seen Moscow and Washington clash repeatedly over the Pentagon's plans to deploy a missile defence system in central Europe, and the status of Kosovo.

The Kremlin is determined to organize a landslide victory for Putin's United Russia party in the December 2 vote - possibly as a way of legitimizing Putin's desire to stay in power once his second term as president ends in May. Under Russia's constitution Putin cannot serve more than two consecutive terms.

Putin yesterday said that Russia was determined to reform the OSCE. Russia and some of its allies say the OSCE's election monitoring is biased and that it tacitly supports pro-western opposition forces.