NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said he believes the upcoming presidential elections in Russia, due on March 15-17, will not be free and fair.

"Free and fair elections are core to any democracy. And the elections in Russia will not be free and fair. Because we know already that opposition politicians are in jail, some are killed, and many are in exile. […] So, we can say actually before the elections that they will not be free and fair," he told a press conference at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels on Thursday.

The Secretary General also noted that "to have free and fair elections, you need competition, you need different lists, you need an open discussion, and you need a free and independent press."

"There is no free and independent press in Russia, media outlets are suppressed or expelled. President Putin has held power in Russia for decades. No one expects Russia's elections this week to bring any change in the Kremlin," he said.

Stoltenberg also described Russia's attempts to organize any part of an election in occupied regions of Ukraine as "completely illegal, violating international law."

He recalled that the OSCE monitored the previous elections in 2018 and "stated clearly that restrictions on fundamental freedoms and candidate registration resulted in a lack of genuine competition in the Russian elections."

"And there are no reasons to believe that this has improved since 2018. On the opposite, it's even less open and free now than it was in 2018. So, the right to participate in fair and free elections is a fundamental part of any democratic society. But Russian citizens cannot count on freedom and fairness, because opposition politicians are dead, in jail or exiled, and the press is not free," the Secretary General said.