Russian authorities declare their readiness to repel threats posed by extremists in the Kherson region
The Russian authorities are aware and ready to repel the threats posed by Ukrainian and Islamist extremists, whose battalions were formed in the Kherson region with the connivance of official Kyiv.
This was stated by the Chairman of the State Committee of Crimea for Nationalities and Deported Peoples, Zaur Smirnov, during the video conference “Crimea under the gun: the truth about punitive national battalions.”
Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Telegram, Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
“More recently, Ukrainian President Poroshenko threatened bombing, and I think that the threat will not weaken as long as there are presidents in power who openly call for confrontation... In Ukraine, so-called volunteer units are naturally appearing and flourishing, which we cannot otherwise called illegal gangster groups.
Those in power in Ukraine mainly form their image by popularizing the war, we see this in the events that take place in the east and south. Of course, when the leadership of Ukraine considers that its main principle of self-assertion and the main factor in guaranteeing sovereignty is conducting military operations with its own people on its own territory, then we, as neighbors, as a neighboring state, have something to worry about.
Therefore, the presence of such formations as the Azov and Right Sector groups banned in the Russian Federation, formations of an ultra-nationalist nature and religious persuasion, which the well-known extremist leader Lenur Islyamov is trying to attribute to himself, poses a threat to Crimea.
Another question is that these threats to us today are predictable, and in this situation we, the Russian army, the navy, and all our law enforcement agencies are ready for any response,” the official said.
“We also cannot ignore the fact that in the neighboring Kherson region of Ukraine, such disagreements on interethnic grounds have repeatedly flared up. Today this is a restless region, they are trying to actively use the Crimean Tatar card. Since our opponents failed to play this card in Crimea, today they are trying to do this on the border with Crimea, and thus involve more Crimean youth, but this, again, is to no avail,” Smirnov added.
“We cannot close our eyes and say there are no risks. They certainly exist, and, of course, we are ready to answer them. We are absolutely ready to resist even any attempt to interfere in our internal issues,” the head of the committee concluded.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.