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Putin to consider exoneration of Crimean Tatars

An infrastructure development program can be launched

NOVO-OGAREVO, April 01. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will issue instructions to consider the possibility of applying the law on the exoneration of the repressed peoples to the Crimean Tatars and also of legalizing their communities and launching an infrastructure development program.

“I will certainly give orders to look into the matter,” Putin said at a meeting with Tatarstan’s head Rustam Minnikhanov on Tuesday.

Crimea’s incorporation into Russia will open new opportunities for Crimean Tatars to build a new life on their own land and overcome the consequences of Stalin’s deportation, Ravil Gainutdin, the head of the Russian Council of Muftis, told a news conference on Tuesday after his trip to Crimea.

“They understand that today’s Russia is doing a lot to create conditions for spiritual and cultural development of Muslims,” Gainutdin said, sharing his impressions from meeting the spiritual leaders of Crimean Tatars and ordinary Muslims.

“The Muslims of Crimea look forward to starting a new life,” Gainutdin emphasized, adding Crimean Tatars were concerned that they had not been rehabilitated over the past 20 years. Besides, no conditions have been created for Crimean Tatars to stop being outcasts and start living normal lives.

“Crimean Tatars have realized they are going to be rehabilitated at last. They are not going to leave Crimea and hope that their rights will be observed,” the Mufti said.

According to him, Crimean Tatars believe in Russia. “They want to be together with our 20-million Umma, which is well-protected, which develops and lives a full life,” Gainutdin said.

Mufti Ravil Gainutdin visited Crimea on March 27-29 to meet his Muslim fellow-believers at the invitation of Emirali Ablayev, the Mufti of Crimea.