Crimean Official Describes Criticism of French Lawmakers' Visit as Hysteria

The hysteria about 10 French lawmakers' visit to Crimea shows that neither the West nor Ukraine wants to know the truth about the peninsula, Crimea's deputy prime minister said.

SIMFEROPOL (Sputnik) – Harsh rhetoric by French and Ukrainian Foreign Ministries regarding the visit of French parliament members to Crimea borders on hysteria, Crimean Deputy Prime Minister Ruslan Balbek said on his Facebook page Wednesday.

Ten French lawmakers, headed by former French Transport Minister and current member of parliament Thierry Mariani, will visit Crimea July 23-24.

“Hysterical statements by French and Ukrainian Foreign Ministries on the visit of French delegation to Crimea show that neither the West nor Ukraine wants to know the truth about Crimea. They close their eyes to the fact that no one is infringed in Crimea, there are no political repressions and, most crucially, our citizens do not hate Ukraine or the West,” Balbek said.

According to Mariani, French lawmakers intend to examine the current political and social situation on the peninsula and identify ways to resume cooperation between French and Russian companies.

The French delegation will be the first large group of high-ranking Western officials to visit the Crimean Peninsula after it rejoined Russia.

Crimea seceded from Ukraine and reunified with Russia following a March 2014 referendum in which over 96 percent of voters supported the move. The vote was labeled an illegal annexation by Kiev and the West.