The presidential contender Ksenia Sobchak
considers Crimea Ukrainian territory and will not conduct her election campaign
there.
MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/. Remarks by TV personality and socialite
Ksenia Sobchak that Crimea is Ukrainian soil were seen by residents of the
Black Sea peninsula as an affront to their vote cast at the 2014 referendum to
become part of Russia, State Duma (lower house of parliament) MP from Crimea
and Deputy Chairman of the Nationality Affairs Committee, Ruslan Balbek, said
on Wednesday.
Sobchak earlier stated she plans to toss her hat into the ring for the 2018 presidential election in Russia. She noted that she considers Crimea Ukrainian territory and will not conduct her election campaign there.
Sobchak earlier stated she plans to toss her hat into the ring for the 2018 presidential election in Russia. She noted that she considers Crimea Ukrainian territory and will not conduct her election campaign there.
"I can
say that this is an affront to Crimea’s residents, because they see the free
choice they had made at the historic referendum in Crimea as a delicate
issue," Balbek said during a TV link-up organized by the Millet public TV
and radio company and the Russian Foreign Ministry. "We communicate with
various civil society institutions, NGOs, including religious and national
ones. The indignation was indeed tremendous, which means that there is an
understanding that this was an affront to Crimeans’ choice to be part of
Russia."
He added
that Sobchak’s refusal to come to Crimea indicates that she is aware of
people’s response to that.
For his
part, Crimea's Envoy to the Russian President, Georgy Muradov, added that
Sobchak’s refusal to electioneer in Crimea was the right step, adding that
"she won’t be supported by anyone," but rather she’ll just get ‘bad
vibes’ from the entire people of Crimea."
Source: ITAR-TASS 01-11-2017
