UKRAINE-CRISIS/GISCARD-CRIMEA Crimea was never Ukrainian - former French President Giscard d'Estaing

Record ID: 149597

  • Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/GISCARD-CRIMEA Crimea was never Ukrainian - former French President Giscard d'Estaing
  • Date: 29th May 2015
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (MAY 29, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** FORMER FRENCH PRESIDENT, VALERY GISCARD D'ESTAING, SHAKING HANDS WITH RUSSIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER, ALEXEI MESHKOV JOURNALISTS LISTENING GISCARD D'ESTAING SPEAKING MEDIA GISCARD AT TABLE, PREPARING TO SIGN HIS BOOK VARIOUS OF GISCARD D'ESTAING SIGNING BOOK BOOKS CALLED 'THE VICTORY OF THE G
  • Embargoed: 13th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABUW9UIV0QUMQAVDNQSF00V5ZM
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing on Friday (May 29) presented his book at the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow. A novel called "The Victory of the Great Army" is dedicated to Napolean's Russian campaign of 1812.
    After the book's presentation the former French president gave a lecture at the Moscow State University. Asked about Crimea, he said:
    "One has to study history. One has to know what was Crimea for many centuries. Crimea was never Ukrainian. Crimea was under Turkish authority, and since Russia expanded in the 18th century and moved south, under the command of Prince Potemkin, the fights or the rivalry were between the Russians and a small local authorities that ruled Crimea. And Ukraine was not at all a side in the dispute."
    Russia annexed Crimea - a Black Sea peninsula with an ethnic Russian majority and a naval base - in March 2014, following street protests in Kiev which led to ouster of the President Viktor Yanukovich.
    Western governments have condemned Russia's annexation of Crimea, with the European Union and United States imposing sanctions on Moscow.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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