Russia slams EU, US for meddling in Bangladesh's affairs

Russia has denounced calls by groups of European and American politicians for ‘free and fair’ elections in Bangladesh as ‘blatant interference’ in the country's internal affairs.

“We have taken note of certain European and American politicians publishing letters calling for “free and fair” elections in Bangladesh,” Maria Zakharova, director of the Information and Press Department of Russia's foreign ministry, tweeted on Thursday, reports bdnews24.com.

 “This is #neocolonialism and yet another attempt at blatant interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.”

Recently, six Congressmen wrote to President Joe Biden seeking US intervention to ensure a free and fair election in Bangladesh.

A group of six members of the European Parliament (MEPs) also wrote to Josep Borrell, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs on the same subject.

Meanwhile, an Election Exploratory Mission from the European Union will be visiting Bangladesh on Saturday to conduct a feasibility study on the prospects of a free, fair, and participatory election, and check if it would be possible to send election observers.

The mission will evaluate the periphery of work, planning, budget, logistics, and security of the key election observer mission and report back to Borrell.

"He [Borrell] said the observer mission will be deployed only if there’s a participatory election,” Charles Whiteley, the EU ambassador to Bangladesh, said.