French Politicians To Visit Crimea On 5th Reunification Anniversary - Russian Lawmaker

Umer Jamshaid Published February 13, 2019 | 10:58 PM

A delegation of French politicians led by Thierry Mariani, a former member of the French National Assembly, will visit Crimea during celebrations on the fifth anniversary of the peninsula's reunification with Russia, the Russian lower house's international affairs committee chairman Leonid Slutsky said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th February, 2019) A delegation of French politicians led by Thierry Mariani, a former member of the French National Assembly, will visit Crimea during celebrations on the fifth anniversary of the peninsula's reunification with Russia, the Russian lower house's international affairs committee chairman Leonid Slutsky said on Wednesday.

"Thierry Mariani and those who were with him, of course, will arrive for the fifth anniversary of the Crimean referendum. They will come again to Crimea to Sevastopol, they will be with us," Slutsky said while speaking to the Komsomolskaya Pravda broadcaster.

The parliamentarian recalled that Mariani had already led a delegation of French lawmakers to the peninsula in 2015 and 2016.

"Thanks to these trips, Europe then learned that Crimea was in no way an enslaved territory, and that there was happiness from the fact that Crimea and Sevastopol returned to their native harbor, to Russia," Slutsky said.

Many of these politicians then lost the mandates of the members of the National Assembly, but they did not lose their commitment to common sense, he added.

The referendum on the reunification was held on the peninsula on March 16, 2014, and resulted in over 95 percent of the residents voting to rejoin Russia. Ukraine and the majority of Western countries continue to consider Crimea as Ukrainian territory, accusing Russia of its illegitimate annexation. Russian authorities deny the accusations, saying the 2014 referendum was held in accordance with international law and the UN Charter. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the question of Crimea's status is "historically closed."