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Mejlis of Crimean Tatars headed by Rada deputies may be banned in Russia

The Mejlis is headed by Verkhovna Rada deputies Refat Chubarov and Mustafa Dzhemilev who left Crimea

SIMFEROPOL, September 24. /TASS/. The Crimean authorities do not rule out that the Mejlis of Crimean Tatars may be prohibited in Russia, Crimea’s Vice Premier Ruslan Balbek told TASS on Thursday.

The Mejlis is headed by Verkhovna Rada deputies Refat Chubarov and Mustafa Dzhemilev who left Crimea. Balbek compared the Mejlis to the Right Sector extremist organization banned in Russia. "The Right Sector organization is banned in Russia as an extremist group. It is time to consider the fact that the organization headed by Dzhemilev and Chubarov carries out the same anti-national destructive activities. These parasites are destroying their own country and are threatening the people around them under the guise of patriotic slogans," he said.

"If these people will continue with their extremist activity and hold joint demonstrations together with organizations prohibited in Russia, they will be banned," Balbek noted. He reminded that activists led by Dzhemilev and Chubarov are currently holding a demonstration by blockading Crimea together with the Right Sector. Trucks carrying Ukrainian goods are not allowed through to the territory of Russia.

"It is not a secret for anyone that professional Crimean Tatars Dzhemilev and Chubarov, along with the Right Sector, are financed by Western funds. They have different wallets, but the same cashier. What we see is two nationalist organizations pursuing the same goals in unison. We can talk about their common interests," Balbek explained.

Chubarov and Dzhemilev were banned from entering Russia for five years. A criminal lawsuit is also being investigated against Chubarov who is suspected in encroachment upon the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. The Mejlis headed by Chubarov and Dzhemilev is not registered under Russian laws.