[Commentary] Liubov Nepop: illegal visits of MEPs to Crimea discredit the position of the European Parliament
11 December 2015 10:27
Acting Head of Ukrainian Mission to the EU Liubov Nepop in her address to the European Parliament Leadership called to give a proper assessment to the illegal visit of MEP Janusz Korwin-Mikke to the occupied Crimea.
L.Nepop noted that Ukraine highly appreciates clear and unwavering stance of the European Parliament with regard to strong condemnation and non-recognition of the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation as well as commitment to support the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine
At the same time, she emphasized, that all these valuable efforts are being undermined by some irresponsible European politicians with provocative visits to illegally annexed Crimea in violation of Ukrainian legislation and the EU’s non-recognition policy.
"The EU position on Crimea has been confirmed by numerous resolutions and reports of the European Parliament and this issue is constantly on its agenda. In this regard it is particularly disappointing, when high international authority of the European Parliament is being badly exploited by certain deputies for their own purposes. Mr.Korwin-Mikke not only defiantly violated Ukrainian legislation, including procedures of crossing the internationally recognized Ukrainian border and order of entering the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. He has demonstrated disrespect to the European Parliament and his colleagues”.
Ukrainian diplomat specifically noted that such provocative visits have been used by the Russian propaganda in attempt to find pseudo international legitimization of the annexation and to misinform Russian and local Crimean population about real attitude of the European Union to Russian illegal acts in Crimea.
