Crimean Tatars Mark 70th Anniversary Of Mass Deportation

Crimean Tatars held a rally in Simferopol on March 18 to mark the 70th anniversary of their mass deportation from the Crimean peninsula ordered by Soviet leader Josef Stalin. The demonstration took place in spite of a ban on public gatherings imposed by Crimea's pro-Russian authorities, but was moved from the planned site, Lenin Square, to the Tatar neighborhood of Ak-Mechet. More than 200,000 Crimean Tatars were deported to Central Asia in 1944 and many thousands died as a result. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)