The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) has opened a criminal case against a delegation of French parliamentarians who recently visited Crimea, which according to Ukrainian legislation constitutes an illegal crossing of the state borders of Ukraine.

The criminal case was opened on the request of MP Heorhiy Lohvynsky (People's Front).

"Your appeal on illegal entrance on the temporary occupied territory of Ukraine by the members of the French National Assembly and the Senate has been considered. I inform you that the PGO has started a pre-judicial inquiry into the crimes envisaged by Part1, Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine over a breach of the travel rules in the temporary occupied territory by the aforementioned persons," deputy prosecutor general, chief military prosecutor Anatoliy Matios said to Lohvynsky in response.

The document also says that the investigators of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Kyiv and Kyiv region have been charged with carrying out a pre-judicial inquiry into the case.

As reported, the French delegation which was led by Thierry Mariani, who is also a member of the French parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, comprised another nine parliamentarians, including Claude Goasguen, a deputy of the Paris 16th district, Yves Pozzo di Borgo, a member of the French Senate, also representing Paris, and representatives of different regions across France.

France has expressed regrets about the visit, describing it as a breach of international law.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry warned that if the French parliamentarians visited Crimea without Kyiv's authorization they would be barred from entering Ukraine.