Ukrainian Rada speaker thanks French Senate, National Assembly presidents for backing Ukraine's integrity
The leaders of the upper and the lower houses of the French parliament, the National Assembly and the Senate, forbade their parliamentarians planning to visit Crimea without Kyiv's authorization from speaking on the National Assembly's and the Senate's behalf and using budget funds for this trip, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Hroysman said.
"I thank French Senate President Gerard Larcher and National Assembly President Claude Bartolone for their clear position in support of Ukraine's territorial integrity. In particular, Mr. Larcher talked two senators out of a trip to Crimea and publicly expressed his negative attitude toward this step by their colleagues," Hroysman said on Facebook on Thursday.
In particular, Bartolone "forbade the parliamentarians [planning to go to Crimea] from speaking on behalf of the National Assembly and using budget funds for the trip," he said.
"Hence, the visit of certain deputies of the lower house of the French parliament to Crimea would be purely private in nature," Hroysman said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin also thanked French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius for his principled position regarding the French parliamentarians' plans to travel to Crimea.
"Have just thanked Laurent Fabius for his principled position on unacceptability of the French parliamentarians' unlawful visit to Crimea," Klimkin said via Twitter on Thursday.
It was reported earlier that ten members of the French National Assembly and Senate coming to Crimea for a two-day visit on July 23 planned, in addition to the official program, to talk to ordinary residents of Yalta and Sevastopol and visit a cemetery of French soldiers who died during the Crimean War and the 'Sevastopol Defense of 1854-1855' panorama museum.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry warned that the French parliamentarians visiting Crimea without Kyiv's authorization would be barred from entering Ukraine.
Fabius criticized the French parliamentarians' plans to travel to Crimea. French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Romain Nadal said the visit is the parliamentarians' personal initiative.
"Hence, the visit of certain deputies of the lower house of the French parliament to Crimea would be purely private in nature," Groysman said.
It was reported earlier that ten members of the French National Assembly and Senate coming to Crimea for a two-day visit on July 23 planned, in addition to the official program, to talk to ordinary residents of Yalta and Sevastopol and visit a cemetery of French soldiers who died during the Crimean War and the 'Sevastopol Defense of 1854-1855' panorama museum.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry warned that the French parliamentarians visiting Crimea without Kyiv's authorization would be barred from entering Ukraine.
