MOSCOW (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova – Later in the day, a delegation of French lawmakers, including Dhuicq, will reach the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea for a visit that will last until Sunday. Paris has condemned the move, with French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal terming the visit a breach of international law.
"It is our duty as members of parliament to be free thinking, we have the right to say what we want, where we want and when we want. So it [the French government] decided it could dictate to us what to do and what not to do. We refused, because in every true democracy, parliament is independent from the government," Dhuicq said, commenting on the remarks of the Foreign Ministry's spokesman.
Crimea seceded from Ukraine and became part of Russia after more than 96 percent of local voters supported the move in a referendum in March 2014.
Many Western countries, including the entire European Union, refused to recognized the legitimacy of the vote, imposing several rounds of sanctions on Russia over the alleged "annexation" of the peninsula. Moscow insisted that all of its actions were in accordance with international law.
Russia, France Should Develop Siberian Natural Resources Together
Europe and France in particular could help Russia explore its resources-rich Siberian region, Dhuicq told Sputnik, as he warned of an impending war for raw materials.
"Siberia is what we believe we must develop together between Russia and Europe, between Russia and France," Dhuicq said.
Dhuicq condemned the rift between Russia and France over Ukraine. He said the Ukrainian conflict destroyed the "love affair" between Moscow and Paris, and pushed Russia into the arms of China.
Dhuicq added that he expects there to be a war over control of raw materials in the world this century.
Under the 2014 contract, Russia and China plan to build a gas pipeline called the Power of Siberia to pump an annual 38 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to its eastern neighbor for a period of 30 years.
