You're reading: French lawmakers’ visit to Crimea outrages Ukrainian, French officials

A two day-visit to Crimea by 10 French members of parliament on July 23-24 drew condemnation by Ukraine’s foreign ministry and criticism by French officials, who accused them of violating international law and justifying Russian aggression toward Kyiv.


The visit was organized by Russia’s Foundation
for Peace, and supported by the Franco-Russian Dialogue association. The
association is presided by the head of Russia’s state-run RZD railway company,
Vladimir Yakunin, and French lawmaker Thierry Mariani, ex-minister of
transportation and right-wing hardliner, who lead the group to the annexed
peninsula.

The delegation included eight legislators of
the right-wing opposition party Les Républicains, one senator of the
central-right party UDI, and one deputy of the central Radical group.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described
the trip in an official statement as “an irresponsible step and demonstration
of their disrespect for the sovereignty of Ukraine,” and said that those
responsible will face an entry ban to Ukraine.

France, which has played an integral part in finding
a peaceful resolution to the war in the east between the Ukrainian military and
Russian-separatist forces, also condemned the visit. French media, including Le
Figaro, reported that French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he was
“shocked” by such a decision. In an official statement, France’s foreign ministry
said it “highly regret[s]” the initiative and that it was a violation of
international law.

The envoys spent time in Simferopol, Yalta, and
Sevastopol, where they were two meet officials as well as local civil society
groups.

The aim of the visit, according to the
delegation, was to discover for themselves – guided by a Russian organization –
the situation on the peninsula more than one year after Russian forces annexed the
peninsula in March 2014. Many of the delegates have already paid similar visits
to Russia, especially in September 2014, which had been seen as an answer to
sanctions the West imposed on Russia for its belligerent behavior toward
Ukraine.

“The deputies are free to move,” Mariani tweeted
on July 22. He also noted that he had informed the French National Assembly and
Senate of the trip.

Ukrainian authorities were especially outraged
by statements made by the visiting French legislators. On the French news channel iTélé, Mariani said
that if Crimea had not been annexed by Russia, “there would have been a civil
war not only in Donbas, but also in Crimea.”

Ukrainian ambassador to France Oleg Shamshur respond
to him in a letter he published on Facebook. In it he said that the conflict in
eastern Ukraine is not a civil war, but a “direct consequence of Russia’s war
against Ukraine.”

Kyiv Post summer intern Yves Souben can be reached at
[email protected]