Kiev on Monday condemned the
recent two-day visit to Crimea by ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi
with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying it was a bid to
legitimise the occupation of the peninsula.
In a statement, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said the
September 11-12 visit broke Ukrainian norms on entry into
"temporarily occupied territory", adding that the visit "also
contradicts EU policy" on the peninsula that Moscow annexed last
year.
Berlusconi met his old friend Putin at Sevastopol on Friday
and laid a wreath at a monument for Italian dead in the Crimean
War.
The following day he enjoyed walks with Putin along the
banks of the Black Sea.
In its statement, the foreign ministry said: "This visit to
occupied Crimea is a fresh attempt by the Russian federation to
legtimise at all costs the illegal occupation and a
demonstration of lack of respect for the state sovereignty of
Ukraine".
Russian media featured Putin and Berlusconi's visit
prominently.
The leader of the centre-right Forza Italia party was the
first former European premier to visit Crimea since Moscow's
annexation, which sparked the first package of western sanctions
against Russia and created a new cold-war climate.
Previously the only leading western politician to set foot
in Crimea were, in October, Matteo Salvini, leader of the
anti-euro, anti-immigrant Northern League, and, in July, former
French transport minister Thierry Mariani.
The latter and his delegation ended up on Kiev's blacklist
and were banned from Ukraine for three years.
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