Stratford57
Diamond Member
A delegation of French lawmakers is coming to Russia to pay a visit to the Crimea – the first such visit since the region’s accession to the Russian Federation in March 2014.
The head of the mission, MP Thierry Mariani said in an interview with Russian business daily Kommersant that it will consist of nine members of the French National Assembly and one senator. Eight members of the delegation represented the center-left “The Republicans” party, led by Nicolas Sarkozy and two more represented centrists and leftists.
The French politician told RT in a telephone interview that he and his colleagues will arrive in Moscow on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, they will meet State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin and after the meeting will travel to the Crimean towns of Sevastopol and Yalta. The lawmakers plan to meet the head of the Crimean government Sergey Aksyonov and Sevastopol Governor Sergey Menyailo, and with ordinary citizens. In addition, the politicians plan to visit the French cultural center in Sevastopol and the French memorial cemetery that dates back to the Crimean war of 1854-55.
Mariani told Russian reporters the mission consisted of two types of lawmakers – some wanted to assess the situation on the Crimean peninsula after personally witnessing it and others – like himself – already recognized the reunification of Crimea and Russia as a historical fact, confirmed by a valid referendum.
On Wednesday afternoon, Thierry Mariani told RT he had had a heated discussion with the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius who very strongly opposed the idea of French lawmakers visiting Crimea. However, the French MPs told the minister that they were free to travel anywhere they wanted and refused to cancel the trip, he said. Mariani also told RT his delegation didn’t share the anti-Russian sentiments of French officials and that the visit was going to happen.
French MPs to make historical visit to reunited Crimea RT Russian politics
There are no grounds to keep Russia sanctions in place, said member of the French National Assembly Thierry Mariani, who heads the parliamentary delegation currently on a two-day visit to Crimea.
The Crimean status referendum held on March 16, 2014 made it possible for the Crimean peninsula to avoid the scenario unfolding in eastern Ukraine, he said.
Mariani noted that he “observed the devastation and the people’s suffering with horror”while he was visiting war-torn Donbass two months ago.
“We congratulate you that you managed to avoid that,”he said at a meeting with Crimea’s Parliament speaker Vladimir Konstantinov. “We welcome the courage of the Crimean Parliament because it was able to make this decision despite the difficult situation and a great risk of escalation [of tensions],”he added.
He reiterated that the visit of the French delegation aims to understand the situation in Crimea. He added that his first impression was great weather and no military personnel on the streets.
"The outcome of the referendum was a reaction of the whole Crimean community to the events in Ukraine," he said.
"Ukraine was like a boiling pot and the people were frightened of the situation in Kiev. After the funerals of people killed in Kiev, a wave of spontaneous protests swept through Crimea…The task set before the parliament was not to let the protests grow into unconstrained actions. A civil war seemed to be the main threat those days."
No grounds to keep Russia sanctions in place French MPs visiting Crimea RT News
The head of the mission, MP Thierry Mariani said in an interview with Russian business daily Kommersant that it will consist of nine members of the French National Assembly and one senator. Eight members of the delegation represented the center-left “The Republicans” party, led by Nicolas Sarkozy and two more represented centrists and leftists.
The French politician told RT in a telephone interview that he and his colleagues will arrive in Moscow on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, they will meet State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin and after the meeting will travel to the Crimean towns of Sevastopol and Yalta. The lawmakers plan to meet the head of the Crimean government Sergey Aksyonov and Sevastopol Governor Sergey Menyailo, and with ordinary citizens. In addition, the politicians plan to visit the French cultural center in Sevastopol and the French memorial cemetery that dates back to the Crimean war of 1854-55.
Mariani told Russian reporters the mission consisted of two types of lawmakers – some wanted to assess the situation on the Crimean peninsula after personally witnessing it and others – like himself – already recognized the reunification of Crimea and Russia as a historical fact, confirmed by a valid referendum.
On Wednesday afternoon, Thierry Mariani told RT he had had a heated discussion with the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius who very strongly opposed the idea of French lawmakers visiting Crimea. However, the French MPs told the minister that they were free to travel anywhere they wanted and refused to cancel the trip, he said. Mariani also told RT his delegation didn’t share the anti-Russian sentiments of French officials and that the visit was going to happen.
French MPs to make historical visit to reunited Crimea RT Russian politics
There are no grounds to keep Russia sanctions in place, said member of the French National Assembly Thierry Mariani, who heads the parliamentary delegation currently on a two-day visit to Crimea.
The Crimean status referendum held on March 16, 2014 made it possible for the Crimean peninsula to avoid the scenario unfolding in eastern Ukraine, he said.
Mariani noted that he “observed the devastation and the people’s suffering with horror”while he was visiting war-torn Donbass two months ago.
“We congratulate you that you managed to avoid that,”he said at a meeting with Crimea’s Parliament speaker Vladimir Konstantinov. “We welcome the courage of the Crimean Parliament because it was able to make this decision despite the difficult situation and a great risk of escalation [of tensions],”he added.
He reiterated that the visit of the French delegation aims to understand the situation in Crimea. He added that his first impression was great weather and no military personnel on the streets.
"The outcome of the referendum was a reaction of the whole Crimean community to the events in Ukraine," he said.
"Ukraine was like a boiling pot and the people were frightened of the situation in Kiev. After the funerals of people killed in Kiev, a wave of spontaneous protests swept through Crimea…The task set before the parliament was not to let the protests grow into unconstrained actions. A civil war seemed to be the main threat those days."
No grounds to keep Russia sanctions in place French MPs visiting Crimea RT News