Italian Parliament Unlikely to Consider Lifting Anti-Russia Sanctions - Lawmaker

The Italian parliament is unlikely to consider a resolution calling on the national government to lift EU anti-Russian sanctions in the near future, member of the Italian legislature Tancredi Turco said Friday.

SIMFEROPOL (Sputnik) — On Thursday, a delegation of Italian lawmakers and businessmen, representing the northern Italian regions of Veneto, Liguria, Lombardy, Toscana and Emilia-Romagna, arrived in Crimea to take part in a number of events dedicated to the Russian-Italian and the Crimean-Italian relations, common cultural heritage and economic projects.

"I am in the opposition but would do everything that is in my power to change the situation. But it is highly unlikely that the national parliament will consider or vote on the resolution calling to lift anti-Russia sanctions, as the majority has the opposite position on the matter," Turco, who is in Crimea as part of the delegation, told reporters.

The lawmaker, who is a member of the Alternativa Libera (Free Alternative) party that had split from the left-wing Five Star Movement, expressed hope that such visits will eventually result in the end of the Russian embargo on EU food products and the EU anti-Russian sanctions.

The Crimean peninsula seceded from Ukraine and reunified with Russia after more than 96 percent of local voters supported the move in a referendum in March 2014. Kiev, as well as the European Union, the United States and their allies, did not recognize the move and consider the peninsula to be occupied territory. They imposed a number of individual and economic sanctions against Russia, driving Russia to retaliate with a ban on various imports from Europe.

Nevertheless, over 60 delegations from dozens of countries have visited Russia’s southwestern Crimea region this year, defying Western restrictions, including those from France, Italy, Jordan and many other nations.