kyiv denounces an “absurd version” of history, Paris also condemns

kyiv denounced, on Sunday April 23, a “absurd version” of the history of Crimea, annexed in 2014 by Moscow, after controversial remarks by the Chinese ambassador to France who questioned the peninsula’s belonging to Ukraine.

“It is strange to hear an absurd version of the ‘Crimean history’ from a representative of a scrupulous country about its millennial history”reacted on Twitter Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency.

Asked Friday evening on the LCI channel, the Chinese ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, said about Crimea: “It depends on how we perceive this problem. There is the story. Crimea was at the very beginning to Russia. It was Khrushchev who gave Crimea to Ukraine in the days of the Soviet Union. » He went on to say that the countries of the former USSR “do not have effective status in international law because there is no international agreement to concretize their status as a sovereign country”.

The Chinese diplomat also called for an end to “quibble” on the issue of post-Soviet borders. “Now the most urgent thing is to stop, to achieve the ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, he said.

Beijing never condemned the Russian invasion

On Sunday, Mr Podoliak pointed out that “all countries of the former USSR have a clear sovereign status enshrined in international law”and called for “do not repeat the propaganda” Russian.

The statements of the Chinese representative also made French diplomacy react. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on Saturday that it had “acknowledged with dismay” of these words. The Quai d’Orsay asks China ” to say [s’ils] reflect his position, which we hope is not the case”.

Ukraine has been internationally recognized “within borders including Crimea in 1991 by the entire international community, including China, upon the fall of the USSR as a new member state of the United Nations”insisted the ministry, recalling that the annexation of Crimea by Russia is “illegal under international law”.

If Beijing says it is officially neutral, Chinese President Xi Jinping has never condemned the Russian invasion or even spoken on the phone, so far, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Conversely, he went to Moscow in March to reaffirm his partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During a visit to China in early April, Emmanuel Macron urged Xi Jinping to “bring Russia to its senses” vis-à-vis Ukraine and urged him not to deliver arms to Moscow. The two Heads of State issued a joint declaration in which they undertook to “support all efforts to restore peace in Ukraine”.