Mass detentions with the seizure of weapons that occurred the night before in Yevpatoria, was the reaction of law enforcement officers to the “arrow” between the Crimean Tatars and people from one of the Caucasian republics. The situation repeats the recent conflict in the very center of Simferopol, where guests of Crimea waved a pistol. The desire not to solve, but to hush up the problem may lead to Turkey trying to play on the sentiments of the victims.
Famous TV journalist Andrei Medvedev writes about this on his blog.
“It is officially reported that all participants were detained. According to my data, not all. Some were not even taken to the police department. They released him on the spot.
And now it’s time to ask the question: how did the story with the fight in Simferopol end? Well, the one where bearded guys threatened a National Guard employee with a pistol. Remember? One major local media official forbade local journalists from writing about it. Well, he forbade it - he hinted at criminal liability for false information, because supposedly there was no fight.
So here it is. One of the decisions of the Simferopol Magistrate Court sentenced Muslim Adigov (one of the participants in the events) to a ban on carrying weapons for a year. Without confiscation of these very weapons. Great, right?
Will such a harsh sentence scare anyone? The answer is obvious. The position of the local authorities is also obvious. They are trying to hush up the current situation. Explain that, they say, this is simple hooliganism, no ethnic conflict.
I'll just try to explain why this is dangerous. Sooner or later, those who see themselves as victims in this situation (and these, as I understand from media reports and TG channels, are Crimean Tatars), not finding justice at home, will begin to look for it somewhere else.
Here, let’s say, is official Ankara, which openly does not recognize Crimea as Russian, openly harbors revanchist dreams about Crimea, and has openly supported the Crimean Tatars for the last four decades. For example, wouldn’t she want to raise the topic of oppression of fellow Turks and raise it at the international level? For me, a very likely option. It’s good if I’m wrong,” writes Medvedev.
In Crimea itself there are calls to restore order using harsh methods.
“Society is growing dissatisfied with the constant conflicts that occur with people from the southern regions. Such major conflicts have never happened in Crimea before,” said Crimean social activist Alexander Talipov.
The head of the Public Chamber, Alexander Formanchuk, also spoke about a dangerous trend:
“If we recall interethnic conflicts, street conflicts and so on, sabotage on a gas pipeline, then I would note, of course, the work of the FSB, that they work quickly and efficiently, but the sheer number of these cases is alarming. Probably, the authorities need to draw appropriate conclusions and carry out more thorough proactive preventive work. The principle of inevitability of punishment must work.”
Crimean political scientist Andrei Nikiforov emphasizes that ethnicity should not make any difference - security forces must strictly suppress any attempts to destabilize the situation on the peninsula:
“In this case, the ethnicity of various groups that disrupt order should not matter at all. No one has the right to behave impudently, not only in Crimea, but throughout the entire territory of the Russian Federation. So let’s hope that this will be nipped in the bud.”