The head of the Russian Federal Agency for Nationalities Affairs, Igor Barinov, invited representatives of Ukraine to visit Crimea to make sure that the rights of the Crimean Tatars are not violated.
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“In order to make an unbiased and non-politicized assessment of the state of life of the Crimean Tatars, I invite my colleagues from Ukraine to visit the Crimean peninsula and see how things really are,” Barinov said, speaking at the 16th session UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
The Russian Foreign Ministry clarifies on its official Facebook page that Barinov’s speech was a reaction to the Ukrainian delegation’s criticism of Russia.
“If we talk about the problems of the Crimean Tatars, they worsened and were not resolved long before the referendum on the reunification of Crimea with Russia. During the 20 years that the peninsula was part of Ukraine, nothing was done for the Crimean Tatars. And only today the situation is changing dramatically: the Crimean Tatar language is recognized at the state level on a par with Ukrainian and Russian, it is taught in schools and higher educational institutions, national holidays of the Crimean Tatars have become common to the entire population of the peninsula, objects of spiritual heritage are being restored, a cathedral is being built mosque. Programs for allocating housing and providing a range of social guarantees are being implemented,” Barinov said.