French Delegation 2nd Crimea Visit Stresses Need to Lift Anti-Russia Sanctions

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A second visit of the delegation of French lawmakers to Crimea is aimed at drawing Europe's attention to the necessity of lifting anti-Russia sanctions, French lawmaker from The Republicans center-right party Jacques Myard, who is currently visiting the Black Sea peninsula, told Sputnik on Friday.

Earlier in the day, a group headed by member of the French parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Thierry Mariani started its three-day visit to Crimea, after traveling there last year.

"I think it is necessary to emphasize, to stress the importance of lifting sanctions. The sanctions are still here, we are going back because we would like to draw attention to the matter and to stress the importance of lifting those sanctions. They are counterproductive and are against our interest, interest of Russia, interest of France, interest of Europe. That is why we are back, whether someone likes it or not," Myard said.

The French Foreign Ministry stated earlier that the country’s authorities condemned the intention of French lawmakers to visit the Black Sea peninsula again. However, as Mariani noted on Thursday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault had toned down his criticism in a sign of warming relations between the two countries.

The lawmaker stressed that the Crimean peninsula was a beautiful region, saying that after traveling to the region last summer he advised the former French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius to visit the peninsula an see it for himself.

In July 2015, a group of 10 French deputies visited Crimea for the first time despite domestic and European criticism. The lawmakers said at the time that what they had seen in the region was completely different to how it was usually portrayed in Western media.