Kyiv’s Recognition of Chechnya as an Occupied Country will Be Followed by a Ukrainian Recognition of the Circassian Genocide, Shmulyevich Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 19 – The unanimous decision of Ukraine’s Vekrhovna Rada to recognize Chechnya as a country occupied by Russia, the result of an active campaign by anti-Kadyrov Chechens in the diaspora, Avraam Shmulyevich says, will be followed by a Ukrainian recognition of the Circassian genocide if Circassians are equally active.

            The Chechen diaspora has been far more active in Ukraine than the Circassian one, the Israeli expert on the Caucasus says; but now the Circassians are correcting that situation (newcaucasus.com/nc-other/21734-avraam-shmulevich-priznanie-nezavisimosti-ichkerii-ukrainoj-vazhno-dlya-vseh-narodov-severnogo-kavkaza.html).

            Shmulyevich says that “the Circassians intend to appeal to Ukraine’s Vekrhovna Rada” via there Free Circassia organization. He expressed the hope that Ukraine would respond quickly but added that it would have been better if Kyiv had acted already rather than only in response to Circassian activism.