Visit of French MPs to Crimea to destroy myth of ‘aggressive Russia’

The visit of French parliamentarians to Crimea and Sevastopol will let Europe "learn the truth" and will destroy the myth about "aggressive Russia," head of the State Duma (lower house) committee and coordinator of the deputy group on contacts with the French Parliament Leonid Slutsky told a news conference at TASS on Saturday.

"It is a truly important visit," he said. "As our counterparts return home, the position on blackmailing Russia will begin to collapse. Europe will learn the truth, which differs greatly from what has been reported for the recent 18 months."

"For those in Washington making the one-polar global architecture in the XXI century it is important to have none contacts between the Eurasian Economic Union, Russia and the countries of West Europe."

"So that to be able, using the bloody crisis in Ukraine, to blackmail Russia, to accuse it of that crisis, of the accident with the Malaysian Boeing and of many other events," he continued. "If West Europe learns the truth about the events in Crimea and Sevastopol, if people learn about peace there, about happy people living there who want to be together with Europe - that would be a major obstacle for those who want to separate Europe and Russia."

He said the U.S. needs Europe for implementation of its ambitions in making the one-polar world.

"They need to have an image of a common enemy, but already as the Minsk agreements were signed, Russia was playing the role of a peacekeeper, and that false structure began failing."

The Russian legislator also expressed hope visits of European parliamentarians to Russia "will be one after another."

On July 23-24, a delegation of French MPs visited Crimea. Head of the delegation Thierri Mariani said the purpose of the trip was to see with own eyes what is happening in Crimea.

The Crimean authorities held a referendum on March 16, 2014 on local residents’ attitude to Crimea’s reunification with Russia. With a record turnout of over 80%, 96.7% of Crimean residents and 95.6% of electors living in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol voted for the Black Sea peninsula’s reintegration into Russia.

The treaty on integrating the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol into Russia was approved by both houses of the Russian parliament, after which President Vladimir Putin signed a federal law on incorporating two new constituent entities into the Russian Federation.

Ukraine, the United States and the European Union have refused to recognise Crimea as part of Russia, despite the referendum’s convincing results.

Crimea used to be part of Russia from 1784 until 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev handed it over to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in a voluntarist act. Crimea remained part of independent Ukraine after the USSR collapsed in 1991.