Macron abandoned the remains of French soldiers in Crimea to please sanctions
France officially refused, citing sanctions against Russia, to participate in the reburial of the remains of its soldiers killed during the Crimean War.
Senator from Sevastopol Ekaterina Altabaeva stated this at a round table in Moscow, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to the politician, last year alone, searchers or construction workers discovered the remains of about 150 people, but representatives of France refuse to visit Crimea due to non-recognition of its Russian status.
“The remains of soldiers from the Crimean War and the defense of Sevastopol in 1854-55 are being raised. And in this regard, a number of serious problems arise - back in the 19th century, three cemeteries were established - French, English and Italian. They were created in the 80s of the 19th century. These are cemeteries that were created and built with the permission of the Russian government, and burials there were carried out with the money of the respective states.
Naturally, in the 20th century the situation changed radically, but now, for example, last year, about 150 remains of our enemy’s soldiers from the period of the defense of Sevastopol in 1854-55 were recovered. This situation was not only in 20, but also in previous years. Starting from the 14th year, the remains were raised, because there was no regulatory framework to regulate how it was necessary, and who would contribute to this, who would participate in this, burials were not carried out, and the remains simply lay, I apologize, in the Museum of Heroic Defense and the liberation of Sevastopol, since the French side, for obvious political reasons, refused to participate in resolving this issue...” said Altabaeva.
A similar situation, according to her, concerns representatives of the German side.
“Unlike our foreign partners, the Russian Federation has always treated with great respect and care the remains of soldiers who died, even as our military opponents on the territory of our state. Evidence of this is that we have a German cemetery (Wehrmacht soldier, - ed.). It was opened in 1998 and is maintained in good condition. Now the German side practically does not take part in putting this facility in order. But, nevertheless, there are certainly no acts of vandalism or destruction of anything there. But you need to understand what Sevastopol is and the attitude after the Great Patriotic War towards our enemy on our land. Just completely different morals.”
Aleksey Utkin, Deputy Director of the Consular Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, who was present at the event, asked Altabaeva for more detailed information on these burials and promised that the diplomatic department would raise this issue at the international level.
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