Ukraine protests the statement by Italian Ambassador to Russia about 'Crimea's vote for independence'
Rome officially does not recognize the "annexation of the Crimea" and supports the integrity of Ukraine; however, the statement of Italian Ambassador to Russia Cesare Ragaglini contradicts the position of the Italian government.
This was noted in a statement by the Ukrainian Ambassador to Italy Yevhen Perelygin, which was distributed by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Ukraine.
"Ragaglini stressed that" Crimea was not the first country to vote for its independence in Europe, "forgetting that the Crimea is not a sovereign state, but part of the territory of Ukraine," the statement said.
Perelygin noted that ambiguous and contradictory statements by the Ambassador do not correspond to the position of the country's leadership.
"It is unclear to us how the Ambassador can openly speak about a position outside his jurisdiction. We remember that Italy did not object to Ukraine's deep cooperation and integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures," the Ukrainian diplomat noted.
According to Perelygin, "the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must fix this."
Perelygin believes that such statements by the Italian ambassador harm relations between Ukraine and Italy.
Remember that earlier, Italian Ambassador to Russia Cesare Maria Ragaglini said that "Crimea was not the first country to vote for its independence in Europe." He said this in an interview with the Italian publication Corriere Della Sera.
"Crimea is not the first country to vote for its independence in Europe. Nobody denies the right of a sovereign state to join an international organization, but there is no doubt that EU negotiations with Ukraine had strong political motives: it was a clear attempt to withdraw Kyiv from the historical influence of Russia. If this was the goal, then the EU could not do it. We should not underestimate the historical and economic ties between Moscow and Kyiv. This was a serious mistake," the Ambassador said.
He also said that European sanctions against Russia are unlikely to achieve their intended goal, namely, to force Moscow to change its behavior in Ukraine.