Dokument #1293586
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
In telephone interviews on 4 and 6 November
1996, a research fellow with the Centre for Russian and East
European Studies at the University of Birmingham, who has written
extensively on Ukrainian politics, provided the following
information. There has been a general decrease in tension between
the Ukrainian and Russian communities in the Crimean peninsula
since the abolition of the presidency in Crimea by the Ukrainian
authorities in the spring of 1995. The Russian secessionists were
reduced to minority status in the Crimean parliament and government
in the summer of 1995, and this has lessened the possibility of the
Russian community attempting to secede. However, although the
majority of Russians in Crimea appear resigned to remaining in
Ukraine, a minority continue to desire secession, and tensions
remain. Several issues, including the status of the Black Sea fleet
and the city of Sevastopol, continue to be unresolved.
The research fellow added that he has not
heard any reports since 1991 of violence between the Russian and
Ukrainian communities in Crimea, although several years ago the
police and Russian mafia were engaged in violent confrontations
with the Tatars. The mafia has great power in Crimea, but the
victims of mafia violence, both within and outside the mafia, do
not appear to have been targeted because of their ethnicity.
Several journalists from the Russian
federation have been killed in Crimea in the last several years,
but it is unclear whether the motives were mafia-related or due to
ethnic or political tensions. Ethnic Ukrainians in Crimea who do
not publicly display their Ukrainian nationalism too vigorously
probably do not encounter any hostility from the Russian majority
in Crimea. However, those ethnic Ukrainians who do so may encounter
difficulty from Russian nationalist groups.
For additional information on tensions between Russians and
Ukrainians in Crimea, and on tensions between Russia and Ukraine
over Crimea, please consult the attachments to this Response, the
DIRB publication Ukraine: Chronology of Events March 1994 -
September 1995, and page 1092 of Country Reports
1995. The last two documents are available at Regional
Documentation Centres
.
Additional information on violence between
ethnic Ukrainians and Russians in Crimea, and the state protection
available to victims of ethnically motivated violence in Crimea,
could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of
additional sources consulted in researching this information
request.
References
Centre for Russian and East European
Studies, University of Birmingham. 6 November 1996. Telephone
interview with research fellow.
_____. 4 November 1996. Telephone
interview with research fellow.
Attachments
Flot Ukrayiny [Sevastopol, in
Ukrainian]. 24 August 1996. "Ukraine: Legislator Discusses
Situation in Crimea." (FBIS-SOV-96-177 11 Sept. 1996, pp.
37-40)
TASS [Moscow]. 30 October 1995. Lev
Ryabchikov. "Crimea's Russian Community Faces Trial on Ethnic
Charges." (NEXIS)
_____. 29 October 1995. Lev Ryabchikov.
"Crimea Russian-Speakers Protest Persecutions." (NEXIS)
_____. 23 October 1995. Lev Ryabchikov.
"Kiev Tries to Split Crimea According to Nationality." (NEXIS)
_____. 18 October 1995. Mikhail
Stetsyuk. "Russian Community Persecuted in Sevastopol." (NEXIS)
_____. 25 September 1995. Lev
Ryabchikov. "Crimea Officers Protest at Russian Community
Disbanding." (NEXIS)
Additional Sources Consulted
Amnesty International Report.
Yearly.
DIRB country file on Ukraine.
DIRB databases.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service
(FBIS) Daily Reports.
News from Helsinki Watch [New
York]. Monthly.
Transition [Prague].
Bi-monthly.
Uncaptive Minds [New York].
Quarterly.
Two other oral sources contacted did not
provide information on the requested topics.
Unsuccessful attempts to contact other
oral sources.