Georgia has no plans to send observers to monitor the February 7
Ukrainian presidential polls runoff, but rejects accusations that it
tried to disrupt the first round of voting.
"Georgia will not send its observers to Ukraine for the second round
of the elections as the issue of Georgian monitors aroused a diversity
of opinions," presidential spokeswoman Manana Manjgaladze said, according to RIA Novosti.
"It was not our aim to interfere in the Ukrainian elections," she
continued, adding that Georgia would cooperate with any new president.
She also said Tbilisi was calling for Georgians who had been invited
to Ukraine by "international organizations" to monitor the polls to
return home.
Last month, four Georgian nationals were detained in eastern Ukraine
during the first round of the Ukrainian presidential elections, with
the opposition claiming attempts had been made to disrupt voting.
The Georgians arrived in Ukraine to "interfere in the electoral
process...to alter the outcome of the elections and disrupt the vote,"
Mykola Azarov, a member of the Party of Regions told a news conference.
Ukraine's central election body had earlier refused to register over
3,000 observers, sent by Georgia to the polls, citing the absence of
necessary documents. The number of monitors from the Caucasus state
exceeded the total number of observers sent by other states and
international organizations.
