<div style="text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Criticising the United States and European Union, Russia has said the manner in which elections are conducted and organised in Bangladesh is quite clearly defined by national law.</span><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"For our part, we support Dhaka in its desire to pursue an independent domestic and foreign policy that meets the interests of Bangladesh itself," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a briefing in Moscow on July 6.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She said they have taken note of the letters published in mid-June by six MEPs to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell as well as a number of US congressmen to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, calling for assistance in conducting "free and fair" election in Bangladesh.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I have never heard that Bangladesh is a member of the European Parliament before. I haven't heard that because it isn't. I didn't know that elections in Bangladesh were connected with the US State Department," said the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">By the logic of the West, she said, it is the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the US Secretary of State who should issue some kind of recommendation on the need to form a “neutral transitional government” in Bangladesh for the pre-election period.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"What is this but neocolonialism? What is this but a manifestation of the nature of metropolises and their attitude towards their colonies?" — Zakharova said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She said this is an attempt at blatant interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state whose authorities, as they understand it, have not asked for advice on how to conduct elections.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"All those who are criticised by the United States or the European Union, as a rule, in the vast majority do not approach them, and ask them not to interfere in their internal affairs but to deal with their own problems at home," she mentioned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The European Union (EU) has urged all political parties to participate in the election process stressing that violence should be avoided at all costs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The EU encourages all parties and all citizens in Bangladesh to exercise their political rights and participate in the parliamentary elections," said High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell Fontelles.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a letter addressed to Ivan Stefanek, a representative from Slovakia in the European Parliament, Josep Borrell said violence, on the other hand, has no place in these processes and "should be avoided at all costs."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said the EU and its Member States will continue to engage closely with the government and all stakeholders in Bangladesh on human rights, democracy and the rule of law.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The US is also seeking free and fair elections in Bangladesh and recently announced a new visa policy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Under this policy, the United States will be able to restrict the issuance of visas for any Bangladeshi individual, believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic election process in Bangladesh. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bndb24/kh</div>