Vladimir Putin addresses a rally in Sevastopol shortly after annexing Crimea (Image: Getty)
A prominent Crimean Tatar leader has denounced Vladimir Putin for perpetuating Stalin’s “genocidal policy” against his community.
Crimea has remained under Russian occupation for 11 years, following the Kremlin’s illegal seizure of the territory in 2014.
Before the invasion, the peninsula’s approximately 2.4 million residents consisted of a diverse population: Russians (60%), Ukrainians (24%), and Tatars (12%), along with various other minority groups. It comes after a chilling map pinpointed the 10 safest nations to flee to during a nuclear World War 3.
Since Putin’s annexation of the region, the Tatars have faced severe persecution, compelling many to abandon their historic homeland.
Moscow has implemented an extensive Russification campaign designed to eliminate all vestiges of minority cultures and identities.
A Russian military base is hit by Ukrainian drones. (Image: X social media)
Tatars and other ethnic communities have seen their religious and expressive freedoms restricted, while confronting the threat of displacement due to a massive Russian migration.
The Kremlin has actively promoted relocation to the peninsula, with approximately one million mainland Russians settling there since 2014.
The Tatars have been specifically labeled as a “disloyal” population by Moscow, resulting in widespread arbitrary detentions and prison torture.
Refat Chubarov – who chairs the Crimean Tatar People’s Parliament (Mejlis) – informed the Express that persecution of his people remaining on the peninsula continues to intensify.
“Crimean Tatars are the target of repression,” he stated.
“People are being abducted, and dozens have been found dead.”
He reported that the occupying forces have wrongfully imprisoned over 250 individuals on politically motivated grounds. “Two-thirds, some 66% of this number, are Crimean Tatars, who makeup only 13% of the total population,” he stated.
Refat Chubarov is the head of the Mejilis of the Crimean Tatar People. (Image: Getty)
The Tatar communities faced a disproportionate impact during the first wave of military conscription in September 2022. “We saw that in many places where military summons were brought, Crimean Tatars made up 60-70%, and in some cases even 80% of the local communities,” he detailed.
The mobilization was met with widespread disapproval and threatened to spark social upheaval, prompting a shift in Russian strategy. “They started allocating land to anyone willing to sign a contract with the Russian Army. They promise them our land by the sea,” Chubarov revealed.
He continued: “All this indicates that the goal of the Russian occupiers is the complete cleansing of Crimean Tatars. Putin is continuing the genocidal policy of the Soviet Union. He wants to finish what Stalin failed to accomplish.”
Stalin exiled the entire Crimean Tatar populace (around 200,000 people) in 1944, accusing them of collaborating with the Nazis during World War II. Following their forced relocation mainly to Uzbekistan and other Central Asian regions, as many as 46% died within two years due to starvation and illness.
A 1967 Soviet decree exonerated the Crimean Tatars of all accusations but did nothing to enable their return or provide compensation for the losses they endured. They remained barred from returning to Crimea until nearly the final days of the USSR.
Despite facing increasingly harsh oppression, Tatars, alongside Ukrainians, have formed a resistance movement that assists Kyiv’s forces in launching strikes against Russian military installations.
Atesh – which translates to “Fire” – emerged in the immediate wake of Russia’s comprehensive invasion of Ukraine in 2022. These partisans were instrumental in helping Ukraine’s military obliterate the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in September 2023.
Their operatives face the threat of torture and execution if captured by Russian forces, and report that conducting operations has become progressively more challenging. “The intensified counterintelligence environment creates obstacles for our activities,” they explained.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to even deliver explosives. Moreover, Russian special services are constantly trying to penetrate our ranks.”
The organization states that its members are driven by a quest for vengeance against the Russians “for their lost loved ones and for those held hostage by the Putin regime.”
They assert they have operatives throughout Russia, including in the major metropolitan areas of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and claim to be building partnerships with other Tatar ethnic minorities within the nation.
Numerous Western defense analysts question whether Ukraine possesses the capability to reclaim Crimea, with the incoming Trump administration already signaling its willingness to formally acknowledge the peninsula as Russian territory.
Nevertheless, Refat Chubarov maintained a resolute stance, declaring that Russian forces will be expelled from the Tatars’ historic homeland.
“I know that we will definitely return to Crimea. I find the answer in the fact that it is impossible for humanity not to restore the power of justice; otherwise, there will be chaos. I believe that the Russians will leave Crimea, and the territorial integrity of Ukraine will be restored. In this world, reason and law still play a major role.”
