Russes : affrontements à Feodosia (Crimée) – 2 juillet 2011

Russians clash with riot police in Crimea

ukrainianjournal.com

KIEV, July 2 – A well-organized semi-militant Russian ethnic group clashed with hundreds of Ukrainian riot police in Crimea on Saturday while attempting to hoist a cross in the city of Feodosia without proper authorization.

The clash, which left nine people seriously wounded with hands broken and heads bleeding, underscores a sudden escalation of tensions in an area that is sensitive to ethnic violence.

Although ethnic Russians make up about two-thirds of Crimean residents, at least half of the remaining residents are Crimean Tatars, a Muslim group that vehemently objected to the hoisting of the cross.

The escalation comes less than two months after another clash, involving a Russian group and Ukrainian nationalist groups, has taken place in Lviv.

The developments come amid cooling in relations between Kiev and Moscow this year, as talks over natural gas prices and trade issues have produced little progress.

Vasyl Dzharty, the Crimean prime minister and an ally of President Viktor Yanukovych, said the attempts to hoist the cross was not a religious matter, but controversial political move that had been aimed at destabilizing the situation on the peninsula.

“Maintaining peace and consent in multi-ethnic Crimea is our key, basic value,” Dzharty said in a statement. “Any attempts to make provocation aimed at destabilization of political situation will be stopped quickly and in a tough manner.” Read more…