Russian authortities closed down several Crimean media outlets, including ATR, the main broadcaster in the Crimean Tatar language. A Russian official body argues the decision was a technical one, but Tatar media speak of political persecution.

The Kremlin says the decision to close the outets was not taken by the Russian presidency, but by the federal agency overseeing the media, Roskomnadzor. This body says the closed media outlets, which until now were operating under Ukrainian licenses, did not successfully complete a new registration process under Russian laws before April 1st deadline. Therefore, it would have been illegal for such media to continue broadcasting.

But Tatar media, Amnesty International and the Crimean Tatar main political organization -the Qurultay- claim that Tatar media did indeed submit all the required documents in order to be re-registered. They argue that despite this, Russian authorites blocked or ignored their demands. The Tatar media believe this to be an arbitrary decision aimed at penalizing the Tatars and silencing the media that hold critical stances as regards the Kremlin. Amnesty speaks of a "blatant attack on freedom of expression, dressed-up as an administrative procedure," and says that the aim is "to intimidate the Crimean Tatar community."

ATR had operated for the past nine years several radio and television channels, including one for children. It broadcasted in Tatar, Russian and Ukrainian. Its owner, Lenur Islamov, says ATR will seek to re-open the channels via satellite or internet. Islamov reported receiving threats to expropriate ATR ownership if broadcasts were not stopped.

Another media outlet not having been re-registered under Russian laws is QHA news agency, which provides contents in Russian, English and Turkish from a Tatar viewpoint. As of today, QHA -which operates online under a Ukrainian TLD- continues releasing news.

Aksyonov blames ATR for "agitating" the population

Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov blamed ATR for fueling conflict with the authorities and "agitating" the Crimean population with the idea that "Crimea will at some point return to Ukraine."

Crimea was annexed in March 2014 by Russia after a referendum that Ukraine, Tatar leaders and Western powers said did not have democratic guarantees.