Ethnic Tatars declare ‘economic blockade’ of Crimea
“At Chongar, Chaplinka and Kalanchak a blockade has started of trucks leading onto the peninsula,” said Zoryan Shkiryak, an interior ministry adviser.
It is not clear how long the activists intend to maintain the blockade, but activists were reported to have brought tents, portable lavatories, and other camping equipment.
The president of bike-club “Night Wolves” Alexander Zaldostanov aka ‘Surgeon’, a well known pro-Kremlin activist ,takes part in a motor rally as Crimeans celebrate the first anniversary of the referendum
Crimea was annexed by Russia in March 2014, but its only link with the Russian mainland is by an overburdened ferry link and the region remains dependent on Ukraine for food and energy supplies.
In the 1940s Stalin had Crimean Tatars, a predominantly Muslim, Turkic-speaking ethnic group, deported en masse to central Asia as a punishment for suspected collaboration with the invading Nazis.
Members of the community began to return after the fall of the Soviet Union, and about 300,000 Tatars lived in Crimea by the time of the annexation by Russia in March 2014.
Soldiers near the Crimean city of Simferopol last year
The re-established community mostly opposed the Russian take over in 2014, and community leaders say they have faced systematic harassment from the new authorities in the months since.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 Tatars are believed to have left Crimea since the annexation, while two of the most prominent Tatar leaders, including Mr Chubarov, live in effective exile in Ukraine.