Following the French, deputies from other European countries gathered in Crimea
Following the French delegation that visited Crimea, deputies from other European countries expressed their readiness to discuss a trip to the peninsula, Kommersant writes, covering the French voyage to Crimea that caused a stir in Kyiv.
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The publication notes that for the head of the French delegation, deputy from the Republicans party Thierry Mariani, the first positive impressions of the peninsula were the warm weather and the absence of military personnel on the streets. “Two months ago I was in Severodonetsk, Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. I saw the destruction and talked with refugees. You’re great for not allowing this to happen here,” he said.
And Senator from Paris Yves Pozzo di Borgo proposed organizing a return visit to France by Crimean parliamentarians so that not only members of the delegation, but also “decisive persons” would know about what was happening in Crimea.
The newspaper also reports that the plenipotentiary representative of the Russian President in Crimea, Oleg Belaventsev, invited the French to permanently reside in Crimea. "Agree. You can consider me a resident of Crimea,” Mariani replied.
“Since the “Crimean spring,” this is the first and, God willing, not the last large-scale visit of Western European parliamentarians to Crimea and Sevastopol,” the publication quotes the head of the Duma Committee on CIS Affairs Leonid Slutsky. – According to him, his colleagues from the EU “are eager to find out first-hand what is happening there, and, no matter how the leaders of European states oppose it, now a reverse wave of truth has begun in Europe, which counters the anti-Russian hysteria.”
“In the near future, many more delegations of Western European parliamentarians will visit Crimea and Sevastopol,” State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin is confident, according to whom the visit “testifies to the constructive approach of part of the French political elite.”
The readiness to visit Crimea was confirmed to Kommersant by MP Nadine Morano, who organized the group “For a New Dialogue with Russia” in the European Parliament in June, consisting of representatives of the French, Italian, British, German, and Portuguese delegations. “Our trip is planned for September - early October. And we also consider a visit to Crimea as one of the possibilities,” she explained.
Michael Schlick, a representative of the “Left” faction in the Bundestag, also told the publication that he was ready to discuss the proposal to visit Crimea. “I don’t know if anyone is planning to go to Crimea,” he explained. – But in general, our deputies have repeatedly visited Russia, including Rostov-on-Don, and even accompanied humanitarian convoys going to Donbass. Member of the Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee Wolfgang Gehrke will also visit Russia in August.”
Following the French, deputies from other European countries are gathering in Crimea.