Alina Smutko
documentary photographer
All my adult life I knew exactly what my country looked like. And then it turned out that you could easily tear off a piece of it. You could wear a military uniform without identification marks, imitate a referendum and convince people that everything would be better. In 2014 “Crimean referendum” depended on the political vector recognize different countries of the world. As Vladimir Putin said, Crimea has been “returned to its native harbor”. For citizens of Ukraine this is a time of deep despair, confusion, anger to themselves and the state of an absolute lack of understanding what was happening. Five years have passed, and even for a hint that Crimea was impossible to return, you would be publicly criticized. Although this situation is quite clear to everyone. Every year fences become higher, Russian flags – bigger, posters of Putin – more colorful.
Ten thousand Crimean people left their homeland and moved to mainland Ukraine. The UN refugee agency reported that most of them were Crimean Tatars, and a third of them were children. Forcing to change passports, threats, searches, pressure and persecution forced people to leave their homes. Many of them had been built stone by stone for the last 20 years after the returning from Stalin’s deportation. The remaining dissenting and uncomfortable Crimean Tatars, veterans of the Crimean Tatar national movement, deeply religious Muslims, pro-Ukrainian activists, members of the Crimean Tatar Majlis were pressed by the new government.