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Kremlin says it will not heed US opinion on Crimean Tatar Mejlis issue

"This is an internal affair of the Russian Federation," Kremlin spokesman says

MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/. The Crimean Tatar Mejlis issue is Russia’s internal affair, in this connection Moscow does not deem it necessary to take into account the third countries’ views in this regard, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

"This is an internal affair of the Russian Federation," he said commenting on the call of the US Department of State "to reverse the Ministry of Justice’s recent decision to designate the Crimean Tatar Mejlis as an ‘extremist’ organization." "This issue is exclusively within Russian jurisdiction, so in this case we do not think it is possible and necessary to heed the opinions of third countries," he added.

Peskov noted that the Kremlin would not take into account the appeal of the US Department of State.

On Monday, the Russian Ministry of Justice included the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People in the list of organizations whose activities have been suspended due to being extremist.

The collegium of Crimea’s Supreme Court is now considering a lawsuit of the republic’s prosecutor-general on recognizing the activities of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis extremist. It will begin studying the evidence that has been provided on April 25. There are a total of 600 pages of evidence of the organization’s destructive activities.