Russia’s repressive measures against Crimean Tatars are probably not surprising since it is these main indigenous people of Crimea who most dangerously undermine Moscow’s excuses for invading and annexing Crimea. It is the Crimean Tatar people who have the right to self-determination and who have unambiguously expressed their identity as part of Ukraine. As well as persecution and the outlawing of the Mejlis, or self-governing body of the Crimean Tatar people, the Kremlin has also focused on denial, with President Vladimir Putin’s Administration even commissioning an Academy of Sciences study aimed at ‘proving’ that the Crimean Tatars cannot be considered an indigenous people.

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