"We will have two very busy days, visiting Simferopol and Sevastopol. Our visit is a kind of a political gesture against the sanction policy. Thus we want to confirm what have been said by our regional councils, when we were adopting resolutions against anti-Russian sanctions and resolutions for the right of the Crimean people to self-determination," Stefano Valdegamberi told RIA Novosti.
The lawmaker added that an agreement on establishing sister city relations between Simferopol and Padua would be discussed during the visit.
In July, Italy's regional council of Lombardy adopted the resolution that called for recognition of Crimea as a part of Russia and for lifting anti-Russia sanctions. Lombardy became the third region after Liguria and Veneto to raise the issue of the recognition of Crimea’s right to self-determination and lifting of the anti-Russian sanctions.
Crimea reunified with Russia after over 96 percent of the local population supported the move in a 2014 referendum following the coup in Kiev that toppled former President Viktor Yanukovich. Kiev, as well as the West, did not recognize the move and considers the peninsula an occupied territory.
