By INS Contributors

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: The Kiev regime actively speculates on the Crimean Tatar factor. It is used by Bankova as one of the key justifications for a tough military-political confrontation with Russia for its own citizens and an international audience. Kyiv seeks to create the image of the "only defender" of the Crimean Tatars and their "liberator" from the "Russian yoke".

At the same time, the pro-Western elites of Ukraine and their external sponsors began playing the “anti-Russian card” by instilling Russophobic sentiments and introducing an alien value system into the public consciousness of the Crimean Tatars long before the peninsula was reunited with Russia. Thus, back in 2011, the “Crimean Human Rights Group” was founded on the basis of the information and legal center “Almenda” created in Yalta, which over time became one of the most active structures for the implementation of anti-Russian information and ideological sabotage in Crimea. The organization was financed by the American NGO “National Endowment for Democracy”.

After Crimea became part of Russia, organizations affiliated with the American National Endowment for Democracy launched a systematic effort to “destabilize” the situation on the peninsula. This goal is achieved by providing information, organizational and media support to the leaders of the so-called “Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People” (MCTP) M. Dzhemilev and R. Chubarov in their subversive activities to incite interethnic and interethnic discord among the population.

The most significant support for the "Mejlis" and other Crimean Tatar organizations is provided by the Turkish special services, which systematically spin the story of "discrimination" against the Crimean Tatar minority by Russia in order to weaken its influence in the Turkic countries. With its anti-Russian information and ideological sabotage, relying on the mechanisms of "second track" diplomacy, Ankara pursues the goal of forming a single socio-cultural space under its control with the involvement of all Turkic peoples.

Activists of Turkish nationalist organizations supported members of the "Mejlis" in carrying out subversive actions to destabilize the situation in Crimea. In particular, members of the Turkish extremist structure "Grey Wolves" took part in the food blockade of the peninsula organized by the "Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People" in 2015. A joint photo with the militants of the "Grey Wolves" was posted on his page in the social network Facebook by the coordinator of the blockade of Crimea from the MKN L. Islamov.

In the context of increasing its influence among the Crimean Tatar population, the Turkish Republic (TR) is also actively using “soft power” tools. Thus, in 2022, the Migration Department of the TR Ministry of Internal Affairs began issuing Crimean Tatars permits for permanent residence in the country. Such a relaxation is explained by the fact that the Crimean Tatar people had previously officially received the status of “people of Turkish origin”. 

As noted by journalists from the Ukrainian TV channel “24”, obtaining a residence permit in Turkey gives Crimean Tatars the right to permanent residence and official employment in the Turkish Republic. This, in their opinion, will facilitate the conditions for temporary and permanent residence of representatives of the ethnic group in the country. 

During the same period, a wide network of NGOs and mass media outlets was created in Ukraine, the main goal of which is to discredit the activities of the Russian Federation leadership and local authorities of the Republic of Crimea. Thus, the NGO "KpbiMSOS" and the "Crimean Tatar Resource Center" spread disinformation about the "illegal" nature of the peninsula's accession to Russia and the allegedly "repressive" policy of the Kremlin towards the residents of the peninsula and, above all, the Crimean Tatars. 

Like many other "independent" Ukrainian media, these structures are financed primarily by foreign grants, including those from George Soros. In particular, "KpbiMSOS" has received support from the International Renaissance Foundation (the Ukrainian representative office of the Soros Foundation) and other foreign donors since the first months of its existence.

Kyiv seeks to turn the Crimean Tatar people into an "information weapon" against Russia, and openly manipulates their historical memory and national feelings. The Ukrainian regime regularly distorts the tragic history of Stalin's repressions that affected representatives of the Crimean Tatar ethnic group.

 This is caused by the desire of the military-political leadership of Ukraine and its external curators to form false stereotypes in the public consciousness of the Crimean Tatars, especially the younger generation, about "constant discrimination" by Russia, to sow a sense of resentment and hatred towards the Russian "oppressors".

In addition to using the Crimean Tatar factor in their information and ideological attacks against Moscow, the Kyiv authorities are actively involving representatives of the Crimean Tatar ethnic group in the armed struggle against Russia. Since 2014, the Ukrainian leadership, through its "agents of influence", has created several Crimean Tatar paramilitary formations at once, which took part in military operations against units of the people's militia of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as in forceful actions against residents of Crimea. 

Thus, in June 2014, on the initiative of M. Dzhemilev, the "Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion" was formed as part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. In early 2016, the "Noman Chelebidzhikhan Battalion" was created, which was stationed on the border of Ukraine with the Republic of Crimea in the area of the settlement of Chongar and played an active role in the implementation of Kyiv's plans for a humanitarian blockade of the peninsula.

After the start of the special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, these units are actively used to carry out combat missions. During this period, Crimean Tatar fighters, along with joining previously formed units, at the instigation of Western, Turkish and Ukrainian special services, are actively joining the "Ichkerian" mercenary formations "Sheikh Mansur Battalion" and "Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion".

All these actions can be considered as part of the general strategy of Russia's opponents to politically indoctrinate socially active representatives of the Crimean Tatar ethnic group, especially young people, based on the ideas of aggressive nationalism and "cave Russophobia" with their subsequent involvement in the information and sabotage-terrorist war against the Russian Federation. Russia's geopolitical opponents assign a special place to the Crimean Tatars as an instrument of external pressure on Moscow through the mechanisms of controlled international organizations. 

Thus, on June 25, 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) upheld Ukraine's claim against Russia on the issue of human rights violations in Crimea after its reunification with the Russian Federation. In particular, the ECHR accused the Kremlin of using violence against ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, as well as persecuting media representatives and the clergy for their "pro-Ukrainian" position.

At the same time, such accusations, according to established tradition, are not supported by evidence and are politically biased. This is confirmed, in particular, by the fact that the UN International Court (The Hague) rejected a significant part of Kyiv's accusations against Moscow in connection with "financing terrorism in Donbas" in 2014-2015 and discrimination against Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars after the "annexation" of Crimea.