The leader of the "National Union" party, Marine Le Pen, once again stated that the so-called referendum in Crimea in 2014, after which Russia annexed the peninsula in violation of international law, was legal.
As BFMTV writes, Le Pen said this on Wednesday at a hearing on foreign interference in the French National Assembly.
According to the leader of the French far-right, "Crimea was Russian for two centuries, and Ukrainian for 60 years, given by the dictator, moreover, on a whim."
"And as an absolute defender of the referendum, I believed that the residents of Crimea freely expressed their opinion by voting for joining Russia. I said this during the referendum on Crimea, and I say it today," she added.
Le Pen also stated that she herself was in Crimea - which is a violation of Ukrainian legislation, where she "saw many people and was able to see that he (Crimea - ed.) really felt much more deeply attached to Russia than to Ukraine."
The leader of the "National Union" has consistently supported the illegal annexation of part of Ukraine's territory, but in 2022, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she suddenly declared that Moscow had "violated Ukrainian sovereignty."
It is not known for certain whether Le Pen was banned from entering Ukraine because of her visit to Crimea. This step was discussed at the beginning of 2017, but as a result, the SBU reported that "based on the results of the assessment of all information and opinions of the departments" they decided not to apply the ban.
