Kiev Should Not Ban Marine Le Pen From Entering Ukraine - Interior Minister Aide

Kiev should not ban leader of French National Front party Marine Le Pen from entering Ukraine following her comment on the status of Crimea, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, said Thursday.

KIEV, January 5 (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, local media reported that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) requested a permit from the national Foreign Ministry to deny the leader of the National Front party, one of the major presidential candidates in France's April election, entrance to Ukraine after she argued Crimea became an integral part of Russia after voting in a 2014 referendum.

"I think that this [ban on entrance for Le Pen] is premature. Secondly, she is not actually planning to come here. Thirdly, this ban will only boost her appeal in the eyes of her electorate. I would not do this if I were in the position of our president and foreign minister," Gerashchenko told Ukrainian 112 TV broadcaster.

Crimea seceded from Ukraine after a March 2014 referendum which found that almost 97 percent of its predominantly ethnic Russian population voted to reunite with Russia. Kiev, as well as Brussels, Washington and their allies, do not recognize the result of the vote and consider the peninsula to be an occupied territory.

 

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