Putin tells Crimean Tatars their place is in Russia

By Denis Dyomkin SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin promised on Friday to help improve the lives of Crimean Tatars, but signaled that members of the Muslim minority must accept their future lies with Russia after Moscow annexed their Black Sea homeland from Ukraine. Putin met representatives of the Crimean Tatars two days before the 70th anniversary of the Sunni Muslim group's wartime mass deportation from Crimea to Soviet Central Asia under dictator Josef Stalin, during which many died. He faces a tough task in winning over the Turkic-origin Tatars, who make up more than 12 percent of Crimea's population of 2 million, because many associate Moscow with oppression, exile and suffering. Read More http://ift.tt/1lpKR3S