Russian Foreign Ministry issues statement regarding consul in Ukraine

In an official statement the Russian Foreign Ministry admitted that recent statements by Vladimir Andreyev, the Russian consul general in Simferopol, Ukraine, regarding Crimean Tatars were inappropriate.

Moscow understands the reaction to certain incorrect wordings used by the Russian representative without proper account for the sensitive issue demanding a serious approach, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

In a recent TV interview, Andreyev accused Crimean Tatars of collaborating with Nazi Germany during World War II. He criticized a movie about the 1944 deportation of Crimean Tatars to Central Asia by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, saying the film does not mention the alleged collaboration.