BAKHCHISARAI, March 29, /ITAR-TASS/. Russian authorities should make earliest possible practical steps towards the rehabilitation of Crimean Tatars, the President of the Council of Russian Muftis, Dr. Ravil Gainutdin said here Saturday.

He is taking part in Kurultai, an unofficial representative body of the Crimean Tatars.

“President Vladimir Putin has given clear instructions in this respect and his statement was watched across the world and that’s why concrete steps should and must be taken towards the Crimean Tatars right now so that they would trust them, calm down and could live quietly in their native land,” Dr. Gainutdin said.

“Russia passed a law on rehabilitation of deported nationalities, while the Crimean Tatar people hasn’t been rehabilitated to date, and we have a duty to remove that stigma from it,” he said.

“I think the Kurultai will take up the problems causing concern among the Crimean Tatars,” Dr. Gainutdin said adding that he meant in the first place rehabilitation, the upkeep of language and culture, and the maintenance of inter-ethnic peace in Crimea.

“This is a multiethnic land today where the Russians, Ukrainians and people of other ethnic identities are living here side by side with Crimean Tatars and all of them are thinking about how to preserve peace, quiet and stability,” Dr. Gainutdin said.