After the occupation of Crimea by Russia, about 500,000 persons arrived from the Russian Federation on the territory of the peninsula, says the Deputy Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine to the Crimea Autonomous Republic - Tamila Tasheva.
According to her, in the period of the occupation, about 25,000 Crimean Tatars have left the Crimean peninsula.
Russia artificially alters the ethnic composition of the occupied Crimea peninsula. Tamila Tasheva, Deputy Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine for the Crimea Autonomous Republic stated this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine, published on November 26, 2019.
“According to estimations of the human rights organizations, about 500,000 people have arrived on the peninsula from the territory of the Russian Federation. Russia is talking about smaller numbers, they are talking about 280,000 people, for example. The Russians understand that this is a crime as well, because international law prohibits the purposeful relocation of the population and the artificial alteration of the ethnic composition of a territory. That is why the Russian Federation lowers these numbers”, stated Tamila Tasheva.
According to Tasheva, during the occupation of Crimea, about 25,000 Crimean Tatars moved out.
“How many people [have moved] in total - the numbers are very different. The official data is for about 50,000 people, but the real numbers can be even twice more. Many persons do not register themselves as internally displaced persons. The point is, that the people of the Crimea are migrating more consciously - before and now. When the active phase of the Donbass fighting took place, people from there simply ran away from the war, to escape the shelling”, she said.
“As for the Crimeans, if we talk about the period March - May 2014, then people were running away from the "green manikins" and from the Russian [fighting] machines, they did not understand what was happening and what could be expected. After that, they were already making an informed choice, they were choosing Ukraine as a state they could trust, they did not want to live in the conditions of the Crimea occupied by Russia.
People are now leaving Crimea, also because they cannot do business in the Crimea, especially such one that requires long-term investments, like construction par example. Now all business in Crimea is "buy - sell". Those, who are called into the army by the authorities, are also leaving”, concluded Tamila Tasheva.
Russia annexed Crimea, after a violent blockade of Ukrainian troops and an illegal referendum on March 16, 2014. The accession of the peninsula to the Russian Federation is not recognized by Ukraine and most countries around the world.
Source: RBC-Ukraine - https://www.rbc.ua/rus/news/tamila-tasheva-rossiya-iskusstvenno-menyaet…;
GORDON - https://gordonua.com/news/crimea/rossiya-iskusstvenno-menyaet-etnichesk…