BERLIN, Dec 3: Western nations on Monday urged Russia to probe charges of fraud during weekend elections that gave President Vladimir Putin’s party a landslide victory, with Germany blasting the country as undemocratic.

“There can be no doubt that, measured by our standards, these were not free and fair elections, they were not democratic elections,” German government spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters.

“Russia was no democracy and it is no democracy,” Steg added.

He said Moscow must “thoroughly and transparently” probe complaints that the election was weighted in favour of Putin’s United Russia party and move towards a true multi-party system.

Washington has urged Russia to investigate “allegations of election day violations”. Britain, France and Italy followed suit, but stopped short of Germany’s outright condemnation of the poll as flawed.

“It is vital that the Russian Central Election Commission urgently investigates all allegations of electoral abuses,” a British Foreign Office spokesman said.

“The government is concerned about allegations of electoral malpractice which, if proven correct, would suggest that the Russian elections were neither free nor fair.” Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said it was in the Russian authorities’ interest to “clarify” the poll’s outcome and put the concerns of the international community to rest.

Paris called on Moscow to probe the allegations of foul play, which included liberal opposition campaigner and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov calling the vote “the dirtiest” in Russian history.

“We hope the Russian authorities will be able to shed full light on these allegations,” French foreign ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani said. According to the Kremlin, however, French President Nicolas Sarkozy “warmly congratulated” Putin on his party’s victory in a telephone call to the Russian leader.

The White House said US President George Bush had no plans to telephone Putin but that Washington would issue further reaction to the vote.

Austria condemned the election result as “chronicle of a victory foretold”.

The European Commission reserved judgement on the poll until it has studied “reports from different sources” while Nato chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer voicing concern over democratic freedoms in Russia.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the ballot had fallen far short of international standards.

Goran Lennmarker, the head of the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly, told reporters in Moscow: “These elections failed to meet many of the commitments and standards we have in the OSCE and Council of Europe.”

He highlighted the strong links between the state and United Russia, which ran a campaign that overwhelmed all its rivals, and said this amounted to “an abuse of power”.

With 98 per cent of ballots counted, Putin’s party had secured 64.1 per cent of the vote, giving it more than two-thirds of seats in the State Duma — a majority sufficient to change the constitution.

Berlin urged Putin not to tamper with the constitution — which bars him from seeking a third presidential term — saying it would put at risk Russia’s reputation.

The Baltic States and the Czech Republic all accused Russia of ducking democracy in Sunday’s poll, but Poland said it would not question the outcome.—AFP