Latest news with #CrimeanTatar
Russia Today
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Ukrainian spies infiltrated NATO state
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) embedded an agent within the Ukrainian diaspora in Türkiye, establishing a covert intelligence network that reportedly operated for years, Aydinlik reported on Friday. The Turkish newspaper cited four documents allegedly belonging to the Ukrainian security agency, including what appeared to be a service evaluation of Major Maksim Harchuk from the SBU's counterintelligence unit and his activities in Türkiye. According to a photographed document published by the outlet, Harchuk allegedly established a spy network in the NATO member state and 'strengthened his agent positions in the Ukrainian communities of Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir.' 'A highly operational officer, calm in times of crisis, respected within the team, with a high sense of responsibility, able to protect confidential information, loyal to his state and an expert professional,' the suspected Ukrainian agent was described in internal correspondence cited by Aydinlik. The suspected agent reportedly tracked opposition figures and monitored the local diaspora for potential 'threats.' Another document suggested Harchuk also targeted the Crimean Tatar ethnic group in Türkiye. He is also said to have conducted counterintelligence operations by tracking attempts from foreign intelligence services to recruit Ukrainian nationals. Harchuk allegedly carried out these activities between 2023 and 2024, Aydinlik wrote, although it remains unclear exactly what his role involved or when his mission ended. The Ukrainian diaspora in Türkiye currently numbers around 37,000, according to the newspaper. UN data shows approximately 145,000 Ukrainians fled to Türkiye after the escalation of the conflict in 2022, though most later left. Despite being a NATO member, Ankara has largely refrained from supplying weapons to Kiev, instead urging both sides to pursue a diplomatic resolution. In 2022, Türkiye hosted the first round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, which Kiev later unilaterally abandoned. David Arakhamia, who led the Ukrainian delegation, later said then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had persuaded Kiev to continue fighting. Russia and Ukraine resumed Türkiye-hosted talks earlier this year after nearly three years without direct diplomatic contact. Moscow remains committed to pursuing a diplomatic resolution, but insists that the root causes of the conflict must be addressed, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his US counterpart Donald Trump during a phone call on Thursday.
Straits Times
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Crimea's Tatars, scarred by past, fear their homeland will be ceded to Russia in peace deal
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Ethnic Crimean Tatar Leniie Umerova, 27, posing for a picture during an interview with Reuters, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 10. KYIV - When Ukrainian Leniie Umerova crossed into Russia on her way to see her ailing father in their native Crimea in late 2022, she was detained and forced to endure what she calls a 'carousel' of charges and prison transfers that lasted nearly two years. The ordeal, which included stints in solitary confinement, crystallised a sense of generational trauma for Ms Umerova, 27, a member of the Crimean Tatar community indigenous to the Black Sea peninsula that Russia invaded in 2014 and illegally annexed from Ukraine. 'It was very difficult because I was constantly alone in my cell and they (the Russians) periodically tried to feed me their propaganda,' said Ms Umerova, who initially faced administrative charges and later accusations of espionage, which she denied. Ms Umerova had grown up listening to her grandmother's stories of how in 1944 the family, along with hundreds of thousands of other Crimean Tatars, were deported to distant Central Asia on Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's orders for alleged collaboration with the Nazis, even though many Tatars including her great-grandfather were fighting for the Red Army. Thousands died from disease or starvation, and the Tatars were only allowed back to Crimea in the 1980s. Now, Ms Umerova fears that Crimea, as part of a final Ukraine peace deal, could be recognised as part of Russia - a scenario that the Trump administration in the United States has signalled is possible. 'For so many years now, the same enemy has been doing evil to our family,' Ms Umerova said. 'If we don't fight now and overcome this, where are the guarantees that my children or my grandchildren won't get the same (treatment)?' Always before her is the example of her grandmother, who refused to speak Russian when Ms Umerova was young and immersed the family in Tatar culture and language. 'Whatever happens, we must return to Crimea,' was the message. Ms Umerova returned to Kyiv after being released by Russia in a prisoner swop in September 2024, and despite her suffering, she remains hopeful that the Tatars, a Sunni Muslim, Turkic people, will one day be able to live freely again in a Ukrainian Crimea. 'Every day, every year... you live with the dream that now, now, now they will deal with this one thing and return Crimea... And so it will be, I am 100 per cent sure of this,' she added. Russia won't budge But Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted that any peace settlement for Ukraine must include recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea and four other Ukrainian regions. Moscow denies Kyiv's assertions that it is violating the rights of Tatars and other people in Crimea, which it says is historically Russian. A woman looking from a balcony decorated with Russian flags and a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Sevastopol, on the Russian-occupied peninsula of Crimea, on June 5. PHOTO: REUTERS According to the Ukrainian President's Mission in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, some 133 Crimean Tatars are currently illegally imprisoned by Russia. Russia's Foreign Ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. 'To give (Crimea to Russia) is to simply spit in their faces,' Ms Umerova said of those detained Tatars and of the tens of thousands who continue to live in occupied Crimea. Russia's Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on this article. At the time of Russia's annexation, Crimean Tatars accounted for around 12 per cent of the peninsula's population of some two million. They rejected Russia's occupation and boycotted a referendum at the time, and community leaders estimate that some 50,000 have left since 2014, though most have remained there. A 2014 photo shows Crimean Tatars holding a sign reading 'referendum boycott' in the Crimean village of Eskisaray, outside Simferopol, Crimea. PHOTO: REUTERS Crimean Tatar rights activist and journalist Lutfiye Zudiyeva, who lives there, said Russia had subjected her community to what she called 'active assimilation'. 'Of course, today in Crimea you can sing in Crimean Tatar and dance national dances, but the people have no political agency,' she said. Crimea is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine by most countries but US President Donald Trump told Time magazine in April that 'Crimea will stay with Russia'. Under peace proposals prepared by Mr Trump's envoy, Mr Steve Witkoff, the United States would extend de jure recognition of Moscow's control of the peninsula. However, the two sides have made little progress in peace talks since April. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is trying to resist Mr Trump's pressure to cede territory to Russia as part of any peace settlement, and he has cited Ms Umerova's case as an example of what he says is Moscow's repression of the Crimean Tatars. For Ukrainian singer Jamala, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016 with her song '1944', about Stalin's deportations, any talk of legally recognising Crimea as Russian is 'insane'. 'If a country like America says 'it's no big deal, let's just forget about it and move on', then there are no guarantees in the world,' Jamala told Reuters. REUTERS
The Star
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Crimean Tatars, scarred by past, fear homeland will be ceded to Russia in peace deal
KYIV (Reuters) -When Ukrainian Leniie Umerova crossed into Russia on her way to see her ailing father in their native Crimea in late 2022, she was detained and forced to endure what she calls a "carousel" of charges and prison transfers that lasted nearly two years. The ordeal, which included stints in solitary confinement, crystallised a sense of generational trauma for Umerova, 27, a member of the Crimean Tatar community indigenous to the Black Sea peninsula that was annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014. "It was very difficult because I was constantly alone in my cell and they (the Russians) periodically tried to feed me their propaganda," said Umerova, who initially faced administrative charges and later accusations of espionage, which she denied. Umerova had grown up listening to her grandmother's stories of how in 1944 the family, along with hundreds of thousands of other Crimean Tatars, were deported to distant Central Asia on Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's orders for alleged collaboration with the Nazis, even though many Tatars including her great-grandfather were fighting for the Red Army. Thousands died from disease or starvation, and the Tatars were only allowed back to Crimea in the 1980s. Now Umerova fears that Crimea, as part of a final Ukraine peace deal, could be recognised as part of Russia - a scenario that the Trump administration in the United States has signalled is possible. "For so many years now, the same enemy has been doing evil to our family," Umerova said. "If we don't fight now and overcome this, where are the guarantees that my children or my grandchildren won't get the same (treatment)?" Always before her is the example of her grandmother, who refused to speak Russian when Umerova was young and immersed the family in Tatar culture and language. "Whatever happens, we must return to Crimea," was the message. Umerova returned to Kyiv after being released by Russia in a prisoner swap last September, and despite her suffering, she remains hopeful that the Tatars, a Sunni Muslim, Turkic people, will one day be able to live freely again in a Ukrainian Crimea. "Every day, every year... you live with the dream that now, now, now they will deal with this one thing and return Crimea... And so it will be, I am 100% sure of this," she added. RUSSIA WON'T BUDGE But Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that any peace settlement for Ukraine must include recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea and four other Ukrainian regions. Moscow denies Kyiv's assertions that it is violating the rights of Tatars and other people in Crimea, which it says is historically Russian. According to the Ukrainian President's Mission in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, some 133 Crimean Tatars are currently illegally imprisoned by Russia. Russia's Foreign Ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. "To give (Crimea to Russia) is to simply spit in their faces," Umerova said of those detained Tatars and of the tens of thousands who continue to live in occupied Crimea. Russia's Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on this article. At the time of Russia's annexation, Crimean Tatars accounted for around 12 percent of the peninsula's population of some two million. They rejected Russia's occupation and boycotted a referendum at the time, and community leaders estimate that some 50,000 have left since 2014, though most have remained there. Crimean Tatar rights activist and journalist Lutfiye Zudiyeva, who lives there, said Russia had subjected her community to what she called "active assimilation". "Of course, today in Crimea you can sing in Crimean Tatar and dance national dances, but the people have no political agency," she said. Crimea is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine by most countries but U.S. President Donald Trump told Time magazine in April that "Crimea will stay with Russia". Under peace proposals prepared by Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, the United States would extend de jure recognition of Moscow's control of the peninsula. However, the two sides have made little progress in peace talks since April. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is trying to resist Trump's pressure to cede territory to Russia as part of any peace settlement, and he has cited Umerova's case as an example of what he says is Moscow's repression of the Crimean Tatars. For Ukrainian singer Jamala, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016 with her song "1944" about Stalin's deportations, any talk of legally recognising Crimea as Russian is "insane". "If a country like America says 'it's no big deal, let's just forget about it and move on', then there are no guarantees in the world," Jamala told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Elizabeth PiperEditing by Gareth Jones)
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Legendary dissident Ayşe Seitmuratova dies in Crimea
Ayşe Seitmuratova, a veteran of the Crimean Tatar national movement, has died in occupied Crimea at the age of 88. Source: Head of Crimean Tatar Mejlis Refat Chubarov on Facebook Quote: "Again, sad news has come in from Russian-occupied Crimea which I do not want to believe – the legendary dissident, political prisoner during the Soviet era, journalist, historian and veteran of the Crimean Tatar national movement Ayşe Seitmuratova has died at the age of 88." For reference: Ayşe Seitmuratova was a Crimean Tatar public figure, human rights activist, member of the national movement of Crimean Tatars, political prisoner of the Soviet regime, journalist and publicist in exile. In 1964 she joined the Crimean Tatar national movement in Samarkand Oblast in modern Uzbekistan. She participated in meetings with representatives of the Soviet government, in particular in the Central Committee of the CPSU. In 1966, she was arrested on charges of "inciting national hatred" and put on probation for three years. In 1971, she was again arrested and sentenced to three years in prison for "spreading deliberately false ideas that defame the Soviet state and public order." She served her sentence in Mordovian camps. After her release in 1974, she continued her human rights activism. In 1978, she emigrated to the United States, fearing forced psychiatric treatment. There she worked as a journalist for the Voice of America, Freedom, BBC and Deutsche Welle radio stations, covering the problems of the Crimean Tatar people, the history of their repression, Russification and assimilation. Ayşe Seitmuratova became a symbol of the struggle of the Crimean Tatar people for their rights, dignity and return to their homeland. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Turkish foreign minister visits Kyiv to discuss his talks with Russia
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has welcomed Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Kyiv on 30 May after the minister's visit to Moscow this week. In Kyiv, the Turkish diplomat shared the results of negotiations in Russia. Source: European Pravda, citing the press service of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Details: The ministers discussed in detail the bilateral and international agenda, the peace process, and the need for a complete ceasefire. "Minister Fidan has just returned from Moscow and informed me in detail about what he heard and saw there. We discussed steps that will bring peace to Ukraine," Sybiha said. Details: The ministers paid special attention to the issue of security in the Black Sea region, the Foreign Ministry noted. "Ukraine and Türkiye have a common goal: the Black Sea should be a space of peace, free trade and freedom of navigation," he added. The diplomats also discussed joint work on the implementation of the agreements following the results of the first meeting of the Ukrainian-Turkish working group on reconstruction. In addition, Sybiha expressed special gratitude to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his role in peace efforts. "We appreciate that Türkiye unconditionally supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, in particular the return of Crimea, and also defends the rights of the Crimean Tatar people," the minister said. Background: On 26-27 May, Türkiye's foreign minister was in Moscow, where he met Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and Russia's chief negotiator for the Istanbul talks, Vladimir Medinsky. Fidan also held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Russia proposed that the second round of negotiations with Ukraine be held in Istanbul on 2 June, said Lavrov. At the same time, Kyiv noted that, to achieve results at the meeting, it needs to review Russia's "peace memorandum" in advance. On Thursday 29 May, Erdoğan urged Russia and Ukraine not to close the door on dialogue ahead of a likely meeting between representatives of both countries on Monday in Istanbul. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
