Balkars in Russia's North Caucasus region of Kabardino-Balkaria are marking the 79th anniversary of their mass deportation to Central Asia by Soviet leader Josef Stalin. The head of Kabardino-Balkaria, Kazbek Kokov, issued a statement expressing compassion for the relatives of the victims "of arbitrariness and lawlessness." About 38,000 Balkars were deported on March 8, 1944, to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan by Stalin's regime, which accused them of collaborating with Nazi Germany. Those who survived were able to return to the North Caucasus in 1957.
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