PARIS, May 24. /TASS/. Marine Le Pen, the leader of the parliamentary faction of France’s National Rally party, considers Crimea a legitimate Russian territory.
"Crimea has been Russian for two centuries and has been Ukrainian for only 60 years after having been handed over by a dictator on a whim," Le Pen told the deputies of the National Assembly (lower chamber of the French parliament), "I am a staunch supporter of referendums. I believe that Crimean residents have freely voiced their desire to be part of Russia through voting."
"I have my own impressions from my trips to Crimea, where I talked to the [peninsula’s] residents and could see for myself that they are more inclined towards Russia," the politician said.
Le Pen pointed to the fact that there have been "no Crimean refugees." "No one left its (Crimean - TASS) territory after the referendum," she pointed out. "This voting reflected the will of the Crimean population," the politician noted.
Crimea was transferred to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954 on the initiative of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
After a coup in Ukraine in February 2014, the governments of Crimea and Sevastopol held a referendum on the peninsula’s reunification with Russia. The overwhelming majority of voters supported reunification (96.7% in the Republic of Crimea and 95.6% in the City of Sevastopol), with turnout reaching 80%. Despite the convincing results of the referendum, Kiev and the EU have refused to recognize Crimea as part of Russia.