19 Oct, 2015 13:25

Romanov imperial heir to support Russia by visiting Crimea

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov has told reporters that he and his relatives have always supported Crimea’s return to the Russian Federation and promised to soon visit the peninsula for the sake of cultural and charity projects.

“I was in Crimea in 2013, I know many people there and I will definitely visit this place again and I hope not only once,” the heir of the Russian Imperial House said in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda daily.

“We supported Crimea’s accession into the Russian Federation from the very beginning, when they held a referendum. We have cultural and charity projects working on the peninsula. My mother and I will go there again, but not for PR purposes and not for ticking the box, we will do it when the interests of our cause demand it,” he added.

The Grand Duke explained that as he and his mother, Grand Duchess of Russia Maria Vladimirovna represented the Romanov Imperial House, the future visit required a lot of preparatory work, both in organizational and in the legal field. “We are not driven by vogue, but by understanding of what is good for our country,” he added.

“Of course I hear a lot of criticism in Russia’s address, but there are also weighted statements by serious people who understand that no balance is possible in the world without Russia and common recognition of Russia’s great role in the international politics,” George Romanov told reporters. “The Imperial House and most of people who are loyal to us think that Vladimir Putin is successfully defending his country’s interests,” he noted. The Grand Duke also dismissed any parallels between the Russian president and any monarchs, emphasizing that Vladimir Putin can only be described as the head of a republican state.

In June this year, Leningrad Region lawmaker Vladimir Petrov wrote letters to Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and the head of the second branch of the dynasty, Prince Dimitri Romanovich, with requests to return to Russia and become symbols of national culture and maintain traditions, as in many other European nations. He also suggested that the returning Royal Family could be granted a place of residence in one of historical palaces of St. Petersburg or in the famous Livadia Palace in Crimea.

An opinion poll conducted in 2013 in connection with the 400th anniversary of the Romanov royal house showed that 28 percent of Russian citizens would agree to the rule of tsars, but only 6 percent said that this modern monarch must be from the Romanov dynasty. About 13 percent maintain that a contemporary Russian politician could become a new tsar and suggested a nationwide referendum to decide on the candidate.

The majority of the people - 67 percent - rejected the idea of even nominal monarchy and said they want Russia to remain a democracy.

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