Tatars Detained In Russia-Controlled Crimea, Their Homes Searched
Two ethnic Tatars in Russia-controlled Crimea have been detained and charged with extremist propaganda.
Both Enver Krosh, from the northern city of Dzhankoy, and Ebazer Islyamov, from the peninsula's northwestern Nyzhnyohirskyy District, were arrested on January 25 after their homes were raided by police.
Police seized a mobile phone, laptop, and a tablet from Krosh's home, according to local human rights group Crimean Solidarity. Krosh was brought to the Dzhankoy District Court and charged with propagating extremist symbols and organizations.
Islyamov was brought to the Nyzhnyohirskyy District Court, where an ambulance was called after he felt unwell. Local activists say that Islyamov also faces the charge of propagating extremist symbols and organizations.
No further details were immediately available.
Both Krosh and Islyamov are practicing Muslims.
Rights groups and Western governments have repeatedly denounced what they called a persistent campaign targeting Crimea's indigenous people -- the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatars, the majority of whom opposed Moscow's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014.
Sergei Aksyonov is the head of the Russian-imposed government in Crimea.
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Thursday, January 25, 2018. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading and take care.
Tillerson To Meet With Ukraine’s Poroshenko In Davos
By RFE/RL
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will meet Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and other leaders on January 26 in Davos, Switzerland.
World leaders, including President Donald Trump, are in Davos for the high-profile World Economic Forum.
Trump will deliver the keynote address before the assembled leaders on the afternoon of January 26. Trump is expected to promote the United States’ economic strength and its desirability as a place to do business.
Tillerson will also meet with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Swiss President Alain Berset, and Polish President Andrzej Duda while in Davos.
The United States has been a stalwart supporter of Ukraine since 2013 when a series of street protests over closer integration with Europe evolved into a major confrontation with President Viktor Yanukovych, culminating in his ouster in February 2014 and leading to a pro-Western government under Poroshenko.
The United States and the European Union have imposed an array of sanctions on Russia over its March 2014 seizure of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its role in the war in eastern Ukraine.
In the coming days, the U.S. Treasury Department is due to release a report that is expected to name hundreds of Kremlin-connected insiders and business leaders who could later be hit with a fresh wave of U.S. sanctions.
The State Department late last year announced approval of "enhanced defensive capabilities" for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia-backed separatists.
But Washington has also pushed Poroshenko to institute major governmental reforms and clean up the country’s endemic corruption.