• Crimean Tatar flag raised over Ukrainian Embassy in Latvia

    The Crimean Tatar flag was raised over the Ukrainian Embassy in Riga on the anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, Rosbalt reported.

    “On the flagpole of the Ukrainian Embassy in Latvia we raised the flag of the Crimean Tatars,” Evgeny Perebiynis, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Latvia, wrote on Twitter.

    At noon on Wednesday a moment of silence was held in Ukraine in memory of the victims of the deportation in 1944.

    On May 18th, 1944, the first group of Crimean Tatars was forced …

  • UN urges Russia to protect rights of Crimean Tatars on anniversary of deportation

    The United Nations has called on Russia to protect the rights of Crimean Tatars on the 72nd anniversary of their deportation by Soviet authorities, Radio Svoboda reported. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, noted that persecution of Crimean Tatars has increased significantly since Russia annexed the Peninsula in 2014. "Since April 2014, Crimean Tatars have been subjected to arbitrary searches, seizure of books, and arrest. Last year, the authorities shut down a number …

  • Crimea is losing popularity with Russian tourists

    Tour agents recorded a significant drop in demand for flights by Russian tourists to annexed Crimea. Demand for flights to Simferopol via the Svyaznoy Travel Company declined by more than 25 percent, reported the newspaper Kommersant on Monday, May 16th. In 2015, half of Svyaznoy’s flight destinations went to Crimea. Today, the figure is not more than 35% of their bookings.

    Commercial director Andriy Osyntsev called it a predictable decline. "Infrastructure of the peninsula currently cannot …

  • Ukraine and Turkey sign military cooperation plan through 2020

    Ukrainian and Turkish armed forces signed a military cooperation plan that determines areas of military cooperation between the states until 2020, stated the General Staff of Ukraine on Facebook. The plan reportedly contains a number of steps aimed at improving the operational capabilities of the Ukrainian army.

    The military cooperation plan includes reforming and military planning, military education and training of troops, consultative and advisory assistance and cooperation between armed …

  • Crimean authorities propose granting Russian citizenship to Jamala

    The Deputy Prime Minister of the Crimea, Georgy Muradov, stated in Beijing that the pro-Russian authorities recommend that singer Jamala exchange her Ukrainian citizenship for Russian citizenship and return to the occupied Crimea, TASS reported.

    “I emphasize that Crimean residents will always be glad to see Jamala perform. It is her motherland. That is why she only has to change her citizenship to Russian, return to her motherland and give concerts at home,” Georgy Muradov said.

    “The …