A delegation of ten French members of parliament (MPs) decided to visit Crimea to prove to the French government that it has a wrong political stance towards Russia and to "put Paris back in its place,” French daily Le Figaro reported.The French lawmakers, led by lower-house National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee member Thierry Mariani, said they came to Crimea to get a real sense of what is really going on in the Black Sea peninsula.
According to Mariani, the main goal of the visit is to find out the truth about recent developments in Crimea, as Western media has created a one-sided account of events following its reunification with Russia.
During their visit, the French MPs saw the local population living in peace and dismissed claims of any Russian "occupation" of Crimea.
"You always have to come to a place and see what is happening. During these two days, we have seen that there is no occupation, people are free. We have seen that it is a peaceful region, people live in peace," said one of the parliamentarians.
Both the French and Ukrainian governments have condemned the decision, considering it a breach of international law. But the lawmakers said the government should keep its mouth shut, because it doesn't have the authority to tell the MPs what to say and where to go.
The French delegation is the first large group of high-ranking Western officials to visit the Crimean peninsula since it rejoined Russia.
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