Patriotic bloc formed in Crimea

SIMFEROPOL, April 17, 2005 (Itar-Tass) - The patriotic forces of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea held a meeting on Saturday and laid flowers to the monuments to soldiers who liberated the Crimea from the Turks and Nazi occupiers. Wreaths were also laid to the monument to Russian military leader Alexander Suvorov. The forum of the patriotic forces was timed to coincide with the 222nd anniversary of the re-unification of Crimea with Russia that is marked on April 19.

The forum had been convened on the initiative of the republican organization of the Slav Party of Ukraine, the Congress of Russian Communities of the Crimea, the Crimean Association of Russian Compatriots and Cossack associations. “All who have gathered here love their small homeland – the Crimea- and won’t allow Ukrainian nationalists to erase this date from history. We will repel any attempts to sever our brethren ties with Russia,” Sergei Shuvainikov, the head of the forum’s organizing committee and a member of the Crimean parliament, said.

The patriotic bloc, “To Future with Russia!”, was created with an aim to unite the patriotic forces to ensure victory at elections to the Crimean parliament next March. The forum adopted a declaration containing the bloc’s election program and urged the ethnic communities of the Crimea to unite efforts to stop the activities of the Crimean Tatar radicals who are pushing the republic’s population towards an inter-ethnic conflict.