All news

Tatarstan President may broker agreement of Crimean government and local Tatar community

Earlier in the day, the Crimean authorities said that their aim was to cooperate with the Mejilis of the Crimean Tatar People
Rustam Minnikhanov ITAR-TASS/Ilya Vydrevich
Rustam Minnikhanov
© ITAR-TASS/Ilya Vydrevich

SIMFEROPOL, March 03. /ITAR-TASS/. Rustam Minnikhanov, the president of Tatarstan, has said he could act as an intermediary at negotiations between the Crimean authorities and the Mejilis of the Crimean Tatar People, Crimea’s First Vice-Premier Rustam Temirgaliyev told journalists on Monday after talks with the Tatar community leaders.

“We are discussing whether Rustam Minnikhanov, the president of Tatarstan, can act as a guarantor of agreements between the Crimean government and the Mejilis of the Crimean Tatar People. We are in the process of discussion and we hope to reach some kind of agreement in two or three days. We will have no grounds for threatening inter-ethnic peace and accord in the autonomy,” the first vice-premier went on to say.

Temirgaliyev said that the Crimean authorities had pledged to allocate 240 million hryvnias ($24 million) before the end of 2014 for a program to support previously deported people. The sides agreed on the support sum on Monday.

Earlier in the day, the Crimean authorities said that their aim was to cooperate with the Mejilis of the Crimean Tatar People. They offered several key posts in the Council of Ministers (government) and Crimea’s Supreme Council, including the posts of a vice-premier, two ministers and deputies in a number of ministries, to the Tatar community leaders.

Kamil Samigullin, the head of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Tatarstan, met the leaders of the Tatar community in Crimea last Sunday. He urged them to seek a peaceful settlement to the situation in the autonomy.

In the meantime, Crimea’s First Vice-Premier Rustam Temirgaliyev has described the situation in Crimea as calm. No armed conflicts have been registered in the autonomy’s territory, he said.

“Despite hysteria in Ukraine’s central media, the situation on peninsula remains absolutely calm. No conflicts have flared up in Crimea over the past 24 hours. Crimea has preserved its inter-ethnic peace,” Temirgaliyev went on to say.

“Not a single armed conflict has been registered in the Crimea. The ‘Crimean spring’ is kind and absolutely peaceful,” the first vice-premier added.