Russia's occupation of Crimea has caused about 100,000 people to flee the territory, twice as many as had been thought according to new figures compiled by a Ukrainian charity.
From the moment that Russian troops fanned out across Crimea and seized the region from Ukraine in March 2014, those who were unwilling to accept the Kremlin's rule began to leave. Most settled elsewhere in Ukraine, including the capital, Kiev.
New evidence suggests this exodus was significantly larger than had been thought. About 21,000 people from Crimea are officially registered in Ukraine as "internally displaced", but many more are known to be undocumented.
The total number of fugitives from Crimea was probably between 50,000 and 60,000, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, a Geneva-based group.
But Tamila Tasheva, the co-founder and coordinator of Crimea SOS, a Ukrainian charity, said the real figure was as high as 100,000. "There are more and more people leaving Crimea as the repression becomes worse," she said. "Our offices are full of requests and applications for help for people and their children."
0 comments:
Post a Comment