The US condemns the arrest of Russia of the Crimean Tatar leader, 45 more people

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 (Reuters) – The United States on Sunday strongly condemned what it said was Russia’s arrest on the weekend of the deputy director of the main representative body of the Crimean Tatars and at least 45 other members of the ethnicity.

A State Department statement said Nariman Dzhelyalov, deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatars’ Mejlis, was detained on Saturday by Russian occupation authorities in Crimea. It was said that at least 45 Crimean Tatars had also been arrested.

“We call on the Russian occupation authorities to release them immediately,” the statement said, calling it “the latest in a long line of beatings, arrests and punitive measures with political motives against the Mejlis and their leadership “.

Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed “informed source” as saying that Dzhelyalov and four other Crimean residents had been detained in connection with a damaged gas pipeline in the village of Perevalnoye, on the road from Simferopol to Yalta.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba posted a tweet on Saturday saying Russia had “escalated terror in occupied Crimea” by detaining five people, including Dzhelyalov.

Washington has been Kiev’s most powerful sponsor since Russia annexed Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine began. Kyiv says the fighting has killed 14,000 people in seven years. Read more

Report by David Brunnstrom; Edited by Michael Perry

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