More than 40 Crimean Tatars detained in Simferopol | News from Germany about Ukraine | DW

In Simferopol, more than 40 Crimean Tatars were detained near the FSB building. Among them are the correspondents of the Internet edition “Grani.ru” and the portal “Crimean Solidarity” Ayder Kadyrov and Nuri Abdurashitov, reported on Saturday, September 4, on the page of the “Crimean Solidarity” movement in the social network Facebook. People came to the FSB building to find out the location of five people detained earlier in the case of damaging a gas pipeline near the village of Perevalnoye near Simferopol.

According to the online edition The Insider, after a group of activists, lawyers and relatives of the Tatars detained the day before gathered at the FSB building, an empty bus was driven there. The police urged people to disperse, citing quarantine measures. However, the congregation refused to disperse and instead walked away from each other at a distance of 1.5 meters to maintain social distance. Detentions soon began.

The case of damage to the gas pipeline near Simferopol

On August 23, the Russian media reported about the damage to the gas pipeline near the village of Perevalnoye by unknown persons with reference to the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Crimea.

In this regard, a criminal case was initiated under the article on deliberate destruction or damage to property.

Earlier, on August 16, the Russian state news agency TASS reported with reference to the press service of the Main Directorate of the Russian Emergencies Ministry for Crimea that a gas explosion occurred in an apartment on the first floor of a five-story building in Simferopol, after which two people were hospitalized.

On September 3 and 4, the homes of five Crimean Tatars, including the Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis Nariman Dzhelyalov, were searched in connection with the case of damage to the gas pipeline. After that, all five were detained.

See also:

• Administrative border with Crimea: five years of life on the verge

  First checkpoints

  Servicemen of the State Border Service of Ukraine and airborne troops appeared on the highways of the southern Kherson region at the end of February 2014 – since the beginning of the riots in Crimea. Fearing the offensive of Russian troops from the peninsula, they began to equip the first trenches and checkpoints here.

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  Administrative border with Crimea: five years of life on the verge

  Russian checkpoints

  At the end of April 2014, the border troops of the FSB of Russia opened their own checkpoints on the peninsula on the administrative border with Crimea. The Ukrainian authorities called these actions illegal, but were forced to equip their own checkpoints. Photo: a line of trucks on the Kherson-Armyansk highway, April 29, 2014.

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  Administrative border with Crimea: five years of life on the verge

  Closed North Crimean Canal

  One of the first responses of the Ukrainian authorities to the annexation of Crimea was to shut down the North Crimean Canal, the main source of water supply for the northern part of the peninsula. Formally, the Ukrainian Water Resources Agency refuses to conclude an agreement with the Russian structures of the peninsula, since it does not recognize their jurisdiction. Photo: construction of a dam on the border section of the canal, February 2015.

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  Administrative border with Crimea: five years of life on the verge

  Trains to Crimea no longer run

  Railway communication with Crimea was terminated in December 2014 – formally for security reasons. Two railway lines entered the peninsula: the eastern one – through the Novoalekseevka station, trains from Kiev, Kharkov and Zaporozhye still run to it; and the western one – through the Vadim station, after the closure it fell into decay. In the photo: a border guard at the Vadim station, May 2014.

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  Administrative border with Crimea: five years of life on the verge

  Trekking to Crimea

  Since 2016, only private vehicles have been allowed to cross the administrative border to Crimea. Most citizens cross it on foot, covering from one to three kilometers between the Ukrainian and Russian checkpoints.

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  Administrative border with Crimea: five years of life on the verge

  Blockade of the peninsula by Crimean Tatar activists

  In September 2015, Crimean Tatar activists launched the so-called “civil blockade” of Crimea, blocking traffic on the highways leading to the peninsula. So they protested against the preservation of trade relations between the mainland and the annexed Crimea, as well as against repressions against the Mejlis. The blockade ended in January 2016 after the introduction of an official ban on trade with Crimea.

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  Administrative border with Crimea: five years of life on the verge

  Without electricity from the mainland

  During the active phase of the blockade of Crimea, its participants blew up the main power lines going to the peninsula from the Kakhovska hydroelectric station. Since then, the power supply to the peninsula from the mainland has been cut off. Photo: Workers repairing damaged lines, February 2016.

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  Administrative border with Crimea: five years of life on the verge

  Public control

  After the end of the blockade, Crimean Tatar activists created the Asker public organization, which, according to them, monitors the work of border guards and fights corruption at customs. Photo: Asker headquarters near Kalanchak checkpoint, summer 2016.

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  Administrative border with Crimea: five years of life on the verge

  Minefields instead of cornfields

  The proximity of the administrative border has radically changed the life of the population of the surrounding villages. About a fifth of the agricultural land of the Mirny united community was in the border control zone: now, mines and fortifications were laid in the fields where corn and sunflower were grown.

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  Administrative border with Crimea: five years of life on the verge

  “Crimean titanium”

  The Crimean Titan plant, owned by oligarch Dmitry Firtash, is located right on the administrative border, but is legally registered in the Crimean city of Armyansk. Residents of Kherson villages, despite the problems with crossing the administrative border, managed to work at the enterprise until the end of 2016.

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  Administrative border with Crimea: five years of life on the verge

  Air pollution and chemical poisoning

  In August-September 2018, probably due to emissions from the Crimean Titan, local residents began to go to hospitals with signs of chemical poisoning. Children were evacuated from Armyansk and neighboring Kherson villages. Investigation into the causes of the incident has not yet been completed on both sides of the admin border. In the photo: schoolgirls from the village of Preobrazhenka in protective masks are returning home after the cancellation of classes.

  Author: Igor Burdyga

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