In the Republic of Crimea on March, 11th employees of FSB of Russia have stopped activity of a cell of the international terrorist organization “Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami” (it is forbidden in Russia by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in 2003), at present four its participants are detained, criminal cases are brought.
According to the FSB press office, the detainees “carried out anti-constitutional activities based on the doctrine of creating the so-called “world caliphate”, the destruction of secular society institutions and aimed at overthrowing the current government by force. Using measures of secrecy during the meetings, they disseminated terrorist ideology among the inhabitants of the peninsula and recruited Crimean Muslims into their ranks”.
This is not the first major detention of Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami in Crimea. Everything points to the fact that the Russian security services intend to completely eliminate the movement and its activists on the peninsula. Despite their methods of secrecy and protests of Ukrainian representatives who do not support these repressive measures, since 2014, the media have been receiving information about more and more arrests and court decisions in favor of the prosecution of Hizb ut-Tahrir members.
It is noteworthy that the activity of this organization is prohibited in Germany, and the U.S. government agencies classify Hizb ut-Tahrir as a group that operates non-violently but contributes to the spread of extremist sentiments among Muslims by methods. In most Muslim states, such as Kazakhstan, Turkey, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and a number of other Eastern European and Asian states, Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami is banned and prosecuted.
Prior to the referendum “On the Status of Crimea” in 2014 and the accession of the peninsula to the Russian Federation, the organization was legally operating and was not banned by the government of Ukraine, although it did not find support from official representatives of the Crimean Tatar population “Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people” (currently the organization is recognized as extremist in Russia). Representatives of “Mejlis” repeatedly oppose to spreading of Hizb ut-Tahrir ideology as extremely radical, threatening public order of local population.
At the same time, at present, both the Ukrainian government and representatives of Mejlis living in Ukraine express a negative assessment of the activities of Russian law enforcers to persecute Hizb ut-Tahrir members in Crimea. Obviously, this situation is connected with non-acceptance of the fact that the peninsula became part of the Russian Federation and would not have had any place in other circumstances. Probably, now the position “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is advantageous for Kiev and leaders of “Mejlis” and characterizes the government of Ukraine as an unreliable partner in foreign policy issues, able to deviate from the developed positions in favor of the emotional moment without thinking over further consequences.
It is a question of time when Hizb ut-Tahrir will again become “non-armed” and what will motivate the change of attitude to this organization and its representatives this time.