By Denis Dyomkin

OPOLZNEVOE, Crimea (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Crimea's minority ethnic Tatars on Monday they should not strive for special status on the Black Sea peninsula Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, stoking Cold War-like tensions between Moscow and the West.

Muslim Tatars comprise more than 10 percent of Crimea's population and largely opposed falling under Russian rule last year, remembering the mass deportations ordered by Moscow during the Soviet era. They have come under pressure to align themselves with the new authorities since the annexation.

Putin began a three-day visit to Crimea much to Kiev's anger, with the aim -- according to the Kremlin's website -- to hold meetings on ways to develop the Black Sea peninsula and promote tourism there.

He praised bringing Crimea into Russia as a matter of historic justice. However, sanctions slapped on by the West over the annexation, which followed the fall of a pro-Moscow president in Kiev, have cost the ailing Russian economy dearly.

They have aggravated an economic crisis in Russia, which is suffering from weak oil prices and tumbling value of its rouble national currency, and curbed technology transfers from the West that are crucial to Russia's future development.

Putin met representatives of various minorities, including the Tatars, at a luxury resort in the village of Opolznevoe.

"Inter-ethnic relations are a delicate matter," Putin told the envoys. "I see any speculation on any sort of special rights for one particular ethnicity as extremely dangerous."

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Putin said Moscow would not allow foreign-funded rights groups to destabilize the peninsula by playing up problems faced by Crimean Tatars, the third largest ethnic group after Russians and Ukrainians on the peninsula.

"Crimea is essentially a mirror of multi-ethnic Russia. Here, like everywhere in Russia, we need to pay the utmost, constant attention to building greater peace and harmony, combining the efforts of the state authorities and civil society," Putin said. "I therefore consider this meeting with you ... very important indeed."

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Russia has drawn criticism from the European rights watchdog OSCE, the United Nations, Council of Europe, and Turkey for its treatment of the Turkic-speaking minority, distrustful of Moscow after the 1944 mass deportation of their kin.

Tatars started returning to Crimea in large numbers after the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 and enjoyed a cultural revival within Ukraine.

Since the 2014 annexation, Russian security forces have raided their main assembly, or Mejlis, and evicted it from its premises. Russia also silenced the Tatars' television broadcaster, ATR, and several local activists, including Tatars, were reportedly killed, beaten, or went missing.

Two top leaders of the community were barred from Crimea.

But Moscow has also made conciliatory gestures to win the Crimean Tatars over. It granted them legal rehabilitation along with other ethnic minorities who suffered under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, and accorded official status to their language.

At the same time as inhibiting the work of Kiev-loyal Crimean Tatars' groups, Moscow has sought to promote new ones that would be willing to cooperate with the Kremlin.

The mix of pressure and promises has left Crimean Tatars increasingly split over whether to resist or deal with Russia.

(Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Mark Heinrich)