Crimean Tatar leader: Putin may meet an end like Hitler

TORONTO (AA) – Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Abduldzhemil Dzhemilev Kirimoglu today compared Russia’s president to Adolf Hitler, saying Vladimir Putin could face an end similar to that of the Nazi dictator.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency in Toronto, Canada, Kirimoglu said Hitler was among those who wanted to seize the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed to Russia over two years ago. "Now Russians say that 'the Crimean Peninsula is ours'. Hitler also said this back then," Kirimoglu related. “Hitler's end is known. I believe that Putin's end will be like Hitler’s.”

In March 2014, Putin signed into law a deal under which Ukraine’s autonomous Republic of Crimea was annexed into the Russian Federation, following a widely criticized referendum in the Black Sea peninsula.

The move was strongly opposed by Ukraine, the EU, and the U.S., which put sanctions on Moscow.

In addition, Kirimoglu said that Ukrainians support Crimeans and their community's case against Russia, adding that Ukraine is "key" for the Crimean Tatars' case.

Last month, a Russia-backed prosecutor in Crimea suspended the Mejlis (assembly) of the Crimean Tatar people, after which Kirimoglu, the Mejlis' former chairman, called for sanctions to end the occupation of Crimea.