In rhetoric reminiscent of the Cold War, the Russian chargé d’affaires in South Africa, Georgy Chepik, said on Thursday that the idea that recent elections were unfair was imagined by the West.
“To say our elections were unfair are nothing but an empty accusation. The West wants to control us from the outside. Can’t they let our people decide who will lead them?” Chepik told journalists at a special briefing inside the Russian Embassy in Pretoria.
The eastern European country held legislative elections on December 4 2010 amid allegations of vote rigging and widespread voter intimidation.
The incumbent United Russia Party won the election with 49.32% of the vote and thousands of protesters discontent with the result took to the streets of Moscow and St Petersburg.
Shouting anti-government slogans and clutching placards calling for electoral reform, hundreds were arrested and detained by police, according to reports by foreign media.
Sneak preview
The vote was seen as a sneak preview to what is expected in the 2012 presidential elections, where Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is touted to return to the presidency — a post he vacated in 2008 after two four-year terms.
It is predicted he will do so by swopping roles with incumbent President Dmitry Medvedev, who will in turn become prime minister.
But, Chepik said the Russian electoral system is “incapable of corruption and manipulation” and alleges Western powers are chasing their own agenda.
“It’s simple: The West does not want to see Putin as the president of Russia again. That’s why they say our elections were unfair,” Chepik says.
Chepik’s comments should come as no surprise as Putin has consistently enjoyed frosty relations with Western powers, including the US and UK.
Quasi-dictatorship
His return to the helm has also been widely depicted as the beginning of a quasi-dictatorship by mainstream media.
“They want a weak politician like [Boris] Yeltsin and [Mikhail] Gorbachev that will drive our country into the ground again,” Chepik said of criticism against Putin’s return.
Of all the criticism levelled against Western powers, Chepik made special mention of the US’s apparent role in “controlling the world”.
“Let’s look at trying to teach us democracy. The US, for instance, has invaded Iraq, left it in a mess and found no weapons of mass destruction. They also continue to control a number of countries using the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Hollywood create stories about it,” Chepik said.
Elizabeth Kennedy Trudeau, spokesperson for the US diplomatic mission to South Africa refrained from commenting on comments made during the briefing.
“While we respect the opinions of our diplomatic colleagues, we will not be commenting on the statements made by our Russian counterparts,” Trudeau told the Mail & Guardian.