You're reading: Marine Le Pen may be banned from travelling to Ukraine due to her statements about Crimea

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has sent a letter to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to coordinate a likely ban on French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen from the entry to the country due to her statements about Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

“We assess such a statement (by Marine Le Pen) as the one impairing Ukraine’s interests and contradicting the international principles, which govern the territorial integrity of the countries. The SBU has sent a letter to the Foreign Ministry to coordinate its initiative to forbid Le Pen the entry (to the country),” head of the SBU chief’s administration Oleksandr Tkachuk told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.

He said that such a coordinating procedure has been stipulated by the inter-agency documents. “We coordinate our initiative, if we see some grounds for banning the entry. The Foreign Ministry may support or not support this initiative. They voice their stance on this issue,” Tkachuk said.

As reported, French presidential candidate, French National Front leader Marine Le Pen said on Tuesday that the reunification of Crimea and Russia has been legal. “I absolutely do not think that the illegal annexation has taken place: a referendum was held, Crimean residents wished to reunite with Russia. I see no reasons to put into doubt this referendum,” she said, on air of the BFMTV television channel on January 3.

In this regard, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed indignation with her statement in the evening on January 3. “Having made the statements, which completely repeat the Kremlin propaganda, the French politician demonstrates disrespect to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and fully ignores the fundamental principles of international law. In this connection, we recall that such statements, as well as the actions in violation of the Ukrainian legislation, will certainly have some consequences, as this has already taken place in the case of individual French politicians, who were forbidden from the entry to Ukraine,” the Foreign Ministry said in a commentary.

The ministry expressed hope that the French public will give the principled assessment “to such an irresponsible rhetoric by a candidate for the top post in France.”