Ukrainian political scientist: Isn’t the release of Chiygoz and Umerov an FSB operation?

The transfer to the Turkish authorities of the leaders of the Majlis banned in the Russian Federation, Ilmi Umerov and Akhtem Chiygoz, may be a secret operation of the Russian special services, writes in his blog on the Korrespondent portal Ukrainian political scientist Kost Bondarenko.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Telegram, Facebook,  Classmates or In contact with

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

“Putin least of all looks like a bloodthirsty maniac, whose main goal is to put more Tatars and Ukrainians in prisons and camps. The Russian leader is no stranger to thoughtfulness and logic, including in relations with neighbors and political partners.

Neither Chiygoz nor Umerov needed Putin in prison. Staying in a prison or camp turns a person into a martyr and into a kind of “political icon.” Do the Russian authorities in Crimea need this? Especially considering the factor of 250 thousand Crimean Tatars living on the peninsula...

Obviously, the most beneficial option for Putin is the “neutral” Crimean Tatars - if we are not talking about complete loyalty. The cases of Chiygoz and Umerov are a demonstrative flogging, after which a broad gesture can be demonstrated.

But for Putin to extradite Chiygoz and Umerov to Ukraine would be tantamount to an admission of defeat or a demonstration of personal weakness. He does not have equivalent or equal figures for exchange with Ukraine. And in terms of political dividends on the eve of March 2018, such a step would not have brought.

Putin decided to act differently: Chiygoz and Umerov became Putin’s “gift” to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It was at his request that the Crimean Tatar activists were released.

It is no secret that at least twice as many Crimean Tatars live in Turkey as in Crimea (according to the most conservative estimates - 500 people, although some sources say the figure is 000 people - that is, 5% of the population of Turkey) . That is, the Crimean Tatars in Turkey are the third largest ethnic group (after the Turks and Kurds). This is a very important moment for Erdogan himself, who wants to appear as a defender of all Turkic peoples (the concept of pan-Turkism today has gained new facets - especially after the activation of the “one people, two states” formula in relations with Azerbaijan and the deepening of relations between Ankara and Astana). Moreover: according to some reports, the Crimean Tatars remained loyal to Erdogan during last year’s coup attempt.

Thus, Putin demonstrated the strengthening of the Russian-Turkish alliance, which emerged a year ago and barely shook in April 2017 (when Erdogan played along with the United States in Syria, agreeing to recognize and legalize Jared Kushner’s obvious fake with “victims of Assad’s chemical attack”).

As for Ukraine, the bitter experience of Nadezhda Savchenko is already causing many to whisper as to whether the release of Chiygoz and Umerov is a special operation of the FSB to create “Savchenko-2” and “Savchenko-3”? It seems that in the jingoistic camp, after ritual honors to political prisoners and several days of continuous interviews and participation in talk shows, accusations of Umerov and Chiygoz will begin - according to popular tradition. Some people will not like their excessive activity, while others will not like their lack of activity. Someone will want them to talk about bullying and torture, and if there are not enough facts, this will be regarded as “zrada.” Imagine what will happen when they start forming lists for the Verkhovna Rada, and some party wants to invite Umerov or Chiygoz to their close team! How much new information will those who are not included in the passable part of the list tell us about their activities?

Add also the fact that - no matter how you look at it - the Crimean Tatars will sooner or later definitely raise the issue of state independence of Crimea. Maybe not now, maybe in a generation or two, but they will raise it. Not about Crimean Tatar autonomy. Not about national-territorial or national-cultural autonomy. It's about independence! Historically they have the right to do so. Now there are few Tatars in Crimea – in percentage terms. But the ideological basis has been ready for a long time: back in the fall of 2007, Mustafa Dzhemilev wrote about the revival of statehood as the ultimate goal of the Crimean Tatars,” writes the Ukrainian expert.