国际英语新闻:Kiev bans Russian observers from monitoring Ukraine's elections

KIEV, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian parliament on Thursday adopted a bill to ban Russian observers from monitoring Ukraine's upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.

The legislation was supported by 232 votes in favor, surpassing the minimum of 226 required, the parliament said in a statement on its website.

According to the explanatory note, the law was adopted to prevent "Russia's intervention in Ukraine's elections" and prevent "information attacks" aimed at distorting facts about the electoral process in Ukraine.

Last month, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said he had sent a letter to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) asking to reject applications from Russia's monitoring mission for Ukraine's elections.

Commenting on the move, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the Ukrainian authorities of making "anti democratic, anti people decisions".

On Dec. 31 last year, Ukraine's Central Election Commission has officially kicked off the campaign for presidential election and on the same day, it decided to close its polling stations in Russia.

Klimkin later explained that it could be "dangerous" for Ukrainians to vote in the country's presidential election in Russia.

The presidential election in Ukraine is scheduled to be held on March 31, while parliamentary elections have been set for Oct. 27.

Relations between Kiev and Moscow have been deteriorating since early 2014 over Crimea and armed conflicts in eastern Ukraine.