Baku- APA. 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 APA reports quoting Reuters.
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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