Members of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Affairs have expressed their protest over the intention of a group of members of the Chamber of Deputies (the lower chamber of parliament) of Italy to visit Crimea which is temporarily occupied by Russia.
“Unfortunately, the actions of individual members of national parliaments of the countries friendly to Ukraine – EU member states, such as Italy, harm not only the bilateral relations, but also undermine the united and principled position of the European Union, international community, which strongly condemned the violation of the fundamental principles of international law and bilateral agreements by Russia,” the deputies said in a statement which was posted on the official website of the Ukrainian parliament on Friday.
“We call on our Italian colleagues to reconsider their intentions and to back out of their intended visit to the temporarily occupied and annexed Crimea, which has been and remains a part of Ukraine, or conduct it in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine,” the committee said.
The statement is addressed to Chair of the Chamber of Deputies Laura Boldrini, President of the Third Commission on Foreign Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies Fabrizio Cicchitto, and coordinator of the Group for Inter-Parliamentary Relations with Ukraine of the Chamber of Deputies Paolo Alli.
Meanwhile, the parliamentary committee said that they had already expressed their indignation with the actions taken by French lawmakers who visited Crimea. “It’s a pity that the committee will have to respond today to similar intentions by a group of members of the Italian parliament who following the negative example of few French colleagues are about to set on a shameful path of disrespect to European and world customs and international law,” the statement said.
It was earlier reported with the reference to a lawmaker from the Five Stars movement and a member of the foreign affairs committee of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Manlio Di Stefano, that a group of Italian parliamentarians had planned to visit Russia and Crimea in autumn.
He said that the visit had been planned for early October. Another member of the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs Alessandro Di Battista will lead a group of lawmakers from the Five Stars party which should number from eight to 10 parliamentarians. Until recently he has also occupied the post of the vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies.
