Naming the issues of concern for the U.S. Mission to the OSCE, Byrnes said that “no less disturbing are the actions of Russian occupation authorities in Crimea, where security forces have reportedly launched another wave of raids and searches of the homes of Crimean Tatars,” the Mission's press service reports.
She recalled that on May 8, as members of the security forces searched the home of Ilver Ametov, head of the Sudak Regional Mejlis, “they reportedly brutally beat and carried off his son, whose location remains unknown.”
The official also told about another Crimean Tatar man, Yusuf Toroz, who was also arrested on May 8. He has “apparently been transported out of Crimea into Russia,” according to Byrnes.
Read alsoDzhemilev: Occupiers conduct over 800 searches at Crimean Tatars to intimidate them“We call on Russia to end its campaign of violence and harassment of Crimean Tatars and others who oppose Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea,” the U.S. envoy to the OSCE said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the U.S. Mission to the OSCE reported a sharp increase by Russia of its heavy artillery presence in Donbas despite the fact these types of weapons had been banned under the Minsk deal.
