Tatar President To Visit Crimea

Rustam Minnikhanov

The president of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, will visit Ukraine's Crimea.

Minnikhanov's spokesman Andrei Kuzmin told journalists Minnikhanov will visit Crimea's capital, Simferopol, on March 5.

Crimean Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliev said on March 3 that Minnikhanov might mediate talks between Crimea's indigenous people, Crimean Tatars, and the peninsula's current pro-Russian cabinet.

Tatarstan's Grand Mufti Kamil Samigullin met with Crimean Tatars' leaders on March 2.

Last week, two delegations of Tatarstan's lawmakers visited Simferopol for talks with Crimean Tatars.

That visit came after thousands of Crimean Tatars scuffled with pro-Russian demonstrators outside the Crimean parliament, preventing lawmakers from holding an extraordinary session to debate the situation after the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Tatars in Russia's Tatarstan and Crimean Tatars share a common cultural and religious background, and language.

Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS