World News Print This Crimea rejects US opinion on extremist group By Staff Writers Sputnik

Crimea Chief Prosecutor Opposes US Decision on Mejlis Crimean Group



Crimean Attorney General Natalia Poklonskaya

Crimean Attorney General Natalia Poklonskaya on Friday turned down a demand by the US State Department to lift restrictions on a Crimean Tatar organization, designated as "extremist" in Russia.



The Russian Justice Ministry suspended Mejlis, a minority ethnic Tatar organization, after it was accused of links to terror groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir and Turkey’s neo-nazi Gray Wolves. Washington said the decision contravened basic democratic principle.



In this photo taken on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014, a woman in traditional Tatar women's headscarf wait to cross the road in Simferopol, Crimea © AP PHOTO/ ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO

"If the US State Department thinks it is important to keep an organization like Crimean Tatars’ Mejlis and they deem its activities ‘democratic’ they are free to create such an organization at home," Poklonskaya told RIA Novosti.



Crimea rejoined Russia after a referendum in March 2014, in which 96 percent of people in the region backed separation from Ukraine. The United States imposed a range of individual and sectoral sanctions on Russia and its officials in the wake of the vote, including on Poklonskaya.





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Crimean Attorney General Natalia Poklonskaya on Friday turned down a demand by the US State Department to lift restrictions on a Crimean Tatar organization, designated as "extremist" in Russia.The Russian Justice Ministry suspended Mejlis, a minority ethnic Tatar organization, after it was accused of links to terror groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir and Turkey’s neo-nazi Gray Wolves. Washington said the decision contravened basic democratic principle."If the US State Department thinks it is important to keep an organization like Crimean Tatars’ Mejlis and they deem its activities ‘democratic’ they are free to create such an organization at home," Poklonskaya told RIA Novosti.Crimea rejoined Russia after a referendum in March 2014, in which 96 percent of people in the region backed separation from Ukraine. The United States imposed a range of individual and sectoral sanctions on Russia and its officials in the wake of the vote, including on Poklonskaya. Print This Make a Donation! Donate here If you appreciated this article, please consider making a donation to Axis of Logic. We do not use commercial advertising or corporate funding. We depend solely upon you, the reader, to continue providing quality news and opinion on world affairs.

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