Australian Company Accused of 'Selling Out' for Launching Tours of Crimea

An Australian travel company has been accused of "selling out" to Russia after announcing its plans to start organizing tours of Crimea.

In December, Sydney-based Gateway Travel announced it would run tours to Crimea which reunited with Russia as a result of the March 2014 referendum. Tours were set start between May and October 2016. They would include passage to and sightseeing in Simferopol, Yalta and Sevastopol.

This led to a complaint from the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations which represents 24 of the country’s most prominent Ukrainian community organizations.

The referendum has not been officially recognized by the international community, and Crimea is considered Ukrainian by many countries, including Australia.

The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations said it had addressed Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and was waiting for a response. It also plans to raise the issue with Gateway Travel.

Stefan Romaniw, chairman of the federation, said the initiative should be condemned.

"Selling out to those who have little regard for Australian values, who stand accused of shooting down MH17 and supporting those who invaded Crimea goes against the grain of Australian sentiment at this time," he was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

Gateway Travel has defended its position, saying that the decision was "non-political."

"If people want to go to Crimea and we can get them a Russian visa, they can go,” she said. “If the Ukrainian government doesn’t like it: well, tough luck. It belongs to Russia at the moment," spokesperson Antonina Kislyakov was quoted as saying by RT.

"If it returns back to Ukraine later on, which I sincerely doubt, then it will become Ukrainian. But I don’t see that there’s anything wrong with this, because people will go," she added.

People around the world are now interested in visiting Crimea, she noted.

The Australian authorities continue to warn its citizens against travelling to Crimea, citing a "very high risk." According to them, regular travel insurance policies would be void and the government is unlikely to be able to help if anything goes wrong, according to The Guardian.

Crimea reunified with Russia in March 2014 following a political referendum in the region, in which 96 percent of the population voted in favor of joining Russia. Ukraine and the West have to date refused to recognize the vote, imposing economic sanctions against the peninsula that include investment bans and restrictive measures targeting Crimean individuals and entities.

Moscow has insisted that the vote was held in full compliance with democratic procedure and international rule of law.