UKRAINE-CRISIS/FRENCH MPS-CRIMEA Group of French MPs en route to Crimea

Record ID: 149462

  • Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/FRENCH MPS-CRIMEA Group of French MPs en route to Crimea
  • Date: 23rd July 2015
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JULY 23, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF RUSSIAN STATE DUMA (LOWER CHAMBER OF PARLIAMENT) RUSSIAN FLAG
  • Embargoed: 7th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABQ4R3QI4ZGRGCD0QGGJEYQI9Z
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Ten French MPs met with the speaker of the Russian Duma - the lower house of the parliament - on Thursday (July 23) before heading to annexed Crimean peninsula.
    Most of the MPs belong to the centre-right "Les Republicains" party of French former President Nicolas Sarkozy.
    The head of the group, former French transport and environment minister, Thierry Mariani, told media in Moscow that the MPs travelling to Crimea had been advised by the parliament speaker and the foreign ministry to abstain from the trip.
    "As an MP I do not report to any government. Because there is division of powers, I only follow ideas I support. Therefore, the French minister has told us that he wouldn't like us to go to Russia, we took his opinion into consideration, but the division of power exists, and as a MP I consider that MP's whatever their country of origin, need to reserve this freedom towards their governments," said Mariani.
    He added that the group of MPs travelling to Crimea does not represent neither French government nor parliament.
    "We do not represent the French government because we are just MPs and our point of views differ from the government's ones. But more and more Frenchmen do not understand the current situation and more and more French feel affected by negative consequences of the economic crisis between France, Europe and Russia," said Mariani.
    "And we hope that the way-out of this situation will be found in the nearest future," he added.
    Mariani said it was important for any politician and decision-maker to get the first hand impression of what is going on in Crimea.
    "It seems very important to me that any MP and any political authority can have an opportunity to get his own opinion after seeing the situation with his own eyes," said Mariani.
    Sarkozy's "Les Republicains" party criticised the EU and French government stance on Crimea and their politics towards Russia.
    At a news conference at the Russian Duma, Mariani expressed opinion that annexation of Crimea might have helped to avoid another war in the region.
    "If Crimea did not return to Russia, what would have happened? And wouldn't we find ourselves in the situation when apart from wars in Luhansk and Donetsk there was a third front where Civil war was even more cruel making more victims," Mariani said.
    Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned French MPs of consequences, including ban on entry into Ukraine, if they go ahead with visit to Crimea.
    "In any case I was not planning vacation in Ukraine. But I regret it because I like Ukraine very much too," said Mariani.
    In Crimea French MPs plan to visit the famous resort of Yalta and two French sites in the port city of Sevastopol - a military cemetery and a French language charity.
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