"The visit of the Crimean delegation is planned for this year. I want to assure you that this federal subject of the Russian Federation has enormous potential for development of relations with Vietnamese partners. We are looking forward to establishing working contacts between the Crimea and regions of Vietnam," Matvienko, who is currently on a two-day visit to Vietnam, said.
According to Matvienko, the Vietnamese people perfectly understood the feelings of the Crimeans, who reunified with Russia, as they had experienced "the bitterness and division," but managed to reunite and restore the integrity of the country.
Russia's historical southern region of Crimea rejoined the country after a 2014 referendum. Almost 97 percent of the region's population voted for reunification in a referendum. Sevastopol, which has a federal city status, supported the move by 95.6 percent of votes. Kiev, as well as Brussels, Washington and their allies, did not recognize the move and consider the peninsula to be an occupied territory.
