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RIA Novosti
The speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko ready to personally escort the Chairman of the European Parliament (EP) Ulrike Lunacek, if she accepts the invitation to visit the Crimea.
The head of the Federation Council said during a conference in Vienna on “security Policy of the OSCE – the view from the side of women.”
Earlier in the discussion of the Lunacek expressed harsh criticism against Russia for the alleged facts of oppression of the Tatars after the annexation of Crimea into the Russian Federation.
“I thank Madam Deputy Chairman of the European Parliament for its interesting presentation, but allow me to invite you to the Crimea. I’m ready to go with you to get you all saw with our own eyes”, – said Matvienko.
“There is a calm, peaceful life”, – said the head of the Federation Council, Recalling that after the reunification of the Crimea with Russia, the Crimean Tatar population of the Peninsula “for the first time received the right to open schools in the Crimean Tatar language”, and to open a national TV channel. Matvienko also recalled that in the Crimea, the use of three languages – Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar – are enshrined in local legislation.
According to the Senator, in the Crimea has already visited many foreign parliamentarians, including European. “Listen to my colleagues, interact with them,” she advised the Deputy speaker of the EP, stressing how “it is important to hear another point of view and try to understand it”. “Maybe then we will bring our positions closer together, but in any case, such discussions are very useful,” she concluded.