Russian officials are saying the outcome of the Scottish independence referendum vote may have been skewed to favor a non-separatist outcome.
Four officials observers were sent from Moscow to watch over the ballot counting in Edinburgh on Thursday, and concluded that the standards were not up to par, Huffington Post UK reported.
Russian officials said the votes were counted in “cavernous” airplane hangars, making it difficult to keep track of the people counting the votes.
“Even if you want to, it’s impossible to tell what’s happening,” said observer Igor Borisov. “It’s also unclear where the boxes with ballot papers come from.”
A Russian reporter on the state-run RT news channel was skeptical over the 90 percent voter turnout in Scotland, saying “It is normally the sort of turnout you would expect in North Korea.”
It is likely that the Kremlin wants to give the West a taste of it’s own medicine after complaints of foul play during Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the Guardian reported.
Two weeks after Russian troops entered Crimea earlier in the year, a referendum was quickly put together and residents voted to break off from Ukraine. Western nations and Ukraine rejected the outcome of the vote.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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