Kirill Vyshinsky, head of RIA Novosti Ukraine news website, who on Monday was detained in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on charges of "treason", is accused of supporting the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic in Ukraine's southeast.

Speaking to Sputnik, Andreas Maurer, representative of Germany's Left Party (Die Linke), described Vyshinsky's arrest as "a gross violation of all democratic norms."

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The US is responsible for encouraging hysteria against Russia, and the UK "has proved to be a reliable partner in that," political analyst Dragana Trifkovic believes.

"The United States and the UK are acting synchronously against Russia in order to prevent cooperation between the EU and the RF, or the unification of Europe, because Russia is certainly an eastern part of Europe," Trifkovic told Sputnik.

According to the expert, the steps taken by the UK government discredit the country on the global stage.

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Sputnik: Please, tell us about your experience as an observer at the Russian presidential elections. What is your impression about it?

Dragana Trifkovic: I was observing the presidential elections in Crimea, along with two other delegates from Serbia. Apart from us in the international team of observers in Crimea, there were delegates from Germany, USA, Austria, Pakistan, Italy, Venezuela, Finland, Latvia, Afghanistan, Malaysia and other countries.

The general impression is that the elections occurred in a good atmosphere and were conducted in a highly transparent manner. At any moment, anyone could follow the course of the elections through video surveillance, as well as the process of counting votes after the closure of polling stations.

TAGS: Dragana Trifkovic, Russia, elections

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