: An international organization said Friday that it would be unable to monitor the Russian parliamentary elections next month because Moscow had refused to issue visas to its observers in time. The development underscores the tensions between Russia and the West about the state of democracy under President Vladimir Putin. The standoff threatens to deepen Western doubts about the legitimacy of the Dec. 2 elections and harden Moscow's insistence that the West lacks the right to criticize the way they are carried out. Russia had already come under criticism for saying it would allow only 70...
photo: Presidential Press and Information Office
