Moscow, Oct 08: The Russian foreign ministry said yesterday that the United States' robust criticism of the recent presidential election in the war-battered Republic of Chechnya was "unwarranted and incorrect". In a statement the ministry said that "these unwarranted and incorrect declarations in no way correspond to the spirit of partnership in US-Russian relations and do nothing to improve the situation in Chechnya."

On Monday the US State Department said the election fell short of being free and fair adding that its legitimacy would likely be questioned by the Chechen people. Although Washington criticized Sunday's vote as undemocratic it stopped short of saying it would not recognize the results.

Akhmad Kadyrov won a landslide victory in the presidential poll, but despite this the election was denounced as a sham by rights groups and greeted with serious international skepticism.

US non-governmental organisations had been invited to send observers to the elections but none had come, the statement added. According to final results announced yesterday Kadyrov won 80.8 percent of the vote cast in the poll on a turnout of 87.7 percent.

Bureau Report