Ukraine Condemns French Presidential Candidate Le Pen’s Crimea Remarks

KIEV (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Le Pen in her interview with the Russian Izvestia newspaper said that as the French leader she would recognize Crimea as part of Russia, adding that the fact Crimea had belonged to Ukraine was "just an administrative issue of the Soviet times".

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its resentment at the new statements of Marine Le Pen regarding Crimea, and underlines that statements of such nature are useless both from historical and legal points of view", the statement published by the ministry said.

Any support for Crimea being part of Russia means neglect of international law, the ministry stated, adding that all statements of any responsible politician and presidential candidate must be based on respect for international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries instead of "serving the interest of the third party".

Crimea, which has a predominately ethnically-Russian population, seceded from Ukraine to rejoin Russia in March 2014, following a referendum in which over 96 percent of the voters supported the move. The Ukrainian government and many Western nations refused to recognize the legality of the vote and introduced sanctions against Russia.