The first president of Crimea, Yuri Meshkov, was arrested
In Crimea, the former President of the Republic, 73-year-old Yuri Meshkov, was arrested for two days on charges of disobeying the police. Crimean social activist Alexander Talipov reported this on his blog.
Meshkov has recently sharply criticized the current leadership of Crimea, accusing it of nepotism and corruption. Earlier, ex-speaker of the local parliament Leonid Grach stated that he was going to participate in the upcoming elections together with Meshkov, as well as representatives of Cossack organizations.
Meshkov was detained in the center of Simferopol by police on the day of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the peninsula. The ex-leader of the republic demanded a meeting with Putin, but was not allowed through the security cordon. Meshkov underwent drug and alcohol testing.
Anatoly Los, one of Meshkov’s associates, believes that the ex-president of the Republic of Kazakhstan should have been included among the participants in the meeting of the Crimean public with Putin in order to convey to the Russian leader the problems of the peninsula.
“One of the most prominent fighters for Russian Crimea was arrested under a far-fetched pretext on the anniversary of the Reunification of Crimea and Sevastopol with the Russian Federation...Instead of Meshkov and other prominent pro-Russian activists, who spent many years fighting for the reunification of Crimea with Russia, Putin was offered a conversation at which, under the guise of “ “to the public,” a crowd of on-duty hangers-on from the local authorities gathered,” Los said in a statement.
Svyatoslav Kompaniets, one of the founders of the Popular Front “Sevastopol-Crimea-Russia,” recalls that Meshkov was already arrested in Ukrainian times, when Makeyevka Prime Minister Vasily Dzharty ruled the peninsula.
“Judge Yakovlev, who judged Meshkov’s language, became a judge in the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan after 14... The flags changed, but the gangster essence of the local Ukrainian authorities remained the same. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Crimeans and Sevastopol residents voted for Meshkov; he is a symbol of the Republic of Crimea, whether the “winners” like it or not. Some people have lost their minds, but the story is impartial, and over time everything will fall into place,” comments Kompaniets.
Crimea's first president, Yuri Meshkov, has been arrested.