Over 1 million Russian citizens relocated to Crimea in 11 years of occupation — Crimean Tatar leader

He made the remarks in a comment to Espreso.

"In order to fully entrench themselves in Crimea and turn it into a military fortress—a base from which they (the Russians) project aggression onto other territories—they need to completely control Crimean society. But there are hundreds of thousands of people there who reject the occupation and remain loyal to the Ukrainian state. These are Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians," Chubarov said.

To suppress these people, Russia has carried out repressions and targeted persecutions, he added. Currently, there are 225 known political prisoners held by Russia, two-thirds of whom are Crimean Tatars.

"These are our people being sentenced to lengthy prison terms, accused of terrorism, sabotage, and allegedly threatening Russia’s territorial integrity. Most egregiously, they have turned Crimea into a military base from which they launch missile and drone attacks on mainland Ukraine. As long as they hold Crimea, they will continue to use it to carry out constant strikes. That’s why Crimea must be liberated," said Chubarov.

He emphasized that Russian imperial policy has always aimed to conquer Crimea, destroy Crimean Tatar statehood, colonize the peninsula, and use it as a staging ground for further aggression.

"Regimes have changed, but the policy has not. From the time Russia seized Crimea in 1783 to the early 20th century—just 120 years—the Crimean Tatar population dropped from 90% of Crimea’s residents to only 28%. Then came Stalin, who sought to ‘cleanse’ Crimea of Crimean Tatars. In 1944, the entire population was deported. After half a century of exile and struggle, mass return of Crimean Tatars coincided with Ukraine’s independence. Together with Ukraine’s national-democratic forces, we helped strengthen the sovereign Ukrainian state. But in 2014, Russian troops invaded again," Chubarov said.

He added that today’s Russian invaders have the same goal as under Catherine II and Stalin: to cement control.

"That’s why they’ve already resettled 1 million of their own citizens to Crimea over the 11 years of occupation. At the same time, they’re pushing out Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians," Chubarov said.

• Eskender Bariiev, member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, says that Russia is constantly trying to increase personnel in occupied Crimea in order to further use the peninsula for attacks on Ukraine.