Crimean authorities: more than a hundred foreign delegations visited the peninsula in the last half year
The permanent representative of annexed Crimea under the President of Russia, Georgy Muradov, stated that groups of foreign politicians, businessmen and public figures regularly visit the Crimea. According to him, over the past six months, more than a hundred such groups visited the peninsula.
He said this on September 27 at a video press conference bridging Moscow and Simferopol. RIA Novosti Krym reported Muradov as saying that the said visits would influence the formation of international opinion, especially European public opinion.
Muradov professed his belief that in this way the Crimea can convey the truth about the real state of affairs on the peninsula and that that would partially legitimize the annexation of the Crimea by Russia in 2014.
He also recalled that a conference on the peninsula will be held in November with the participation of guests from abroad, during which the creation of the "International Association of Friends of the Crimea" will be announced.
The deputy of the Crimean parliament controlled by the Kremlin, the head of the "German cultural autonomy" of the peninsula, Yuri Gempel said on September 26 that there were plans for the visit of the new German Bundestag deputies to the peninsula, possibly in late November 2017.
On September 20, Vladimir Konstantinov, head of the Kremlin-controlled parliament of the Crimea, encouraged the visits of foreigners to the Crimea for expanding the international ties of the annexed peninsula. According to him, the Crimean authorities intend to "seek opportunities for the development of people's diplomacy."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine warns that the visits of foreign politicians to the Crimea do not have official status. The Ministry published an appeal in July 2016 warning foreign citizens and stateless persons against illegal trips to the Crimea.