Concerns Raised Over Crimean Tatars Fighting With Islamic state.

Concerns Raised Over Crimean Tatars Fighting With Islamic state. (Rferl).

Ruslan Saitvaliyev, the leader of the recently revived Crimean Muftiate of Taurida, has said that as many as 500 militants from Crimea are fighting with the Islamic State (IS) group.

Speaking at a Simferopol conference on the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) , a political and economic union created in May by Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan, on November 18, the mufti of Taurida raised the specter of the "IS threat" to warn that Russian-speaking Islamic State militants posed a threat to Crimea's stability.

"We have already heard statements from Islamic State's ideologues about what their next target is -- Russia.

Islamic State has a large number of fighters who know the Russian language and who can easily penetrate society. Some of them may enter Crimea and if they want to destabilize the situation, they can do so, and will find strong support from the local Wahhabis, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and the like," 

Saitvaliyev said, referring to the pan-Islamic political organization outlawed in Russia but legal in Ukraine. Hizb ut-Tahrir has a few hundred adherents in Crimea.

Saitvaliyev's remarks reflect Russian fears that Crimea's Tatar community, which has opposed Russian annexation of the peninsula, could pose a problem for Russian governance.

His comments also express concerns about radicalization of Crimean Tatars.Read the full story here.