08:52
28.3.2014
Important news this morning from Crimea.
The de facto government of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea -- which was the subject of an internationally unrecognized annexation by Russia earlier this month -- has adopted a moratorium on the distribution and privatization of public land.
Rustam Temirgaliyev, deputy prime minister of the Russian-backed government, made the announcement Friday on his Facebook account.
He said the moratorium will last until the government works out a plan for the "territorial development of the Republic of Crimea" as ordered by Moscow.
The peninsula's Crimean Tatar minority was deported by Josef Stalin in 1944 and their property was seized.
They have been returning since the late 1980s, with thousands of them squatting on disused public land.
Temirgaliyev said the draft territorial-development plan will be ready by April 25.
Rustam Temirgaliyev, deputy prime minister of the Russian-backed government, made the announcement Friday on his Facebook account.
He said the moratorium will last until the government works out a plan for the "territorial development of the Republic of Crimea" as ordered by Moscow.
The peninsula's Crimean Tatar minority was deported by Josef Stalin in 1944 and their property was seized.
They have been returning since the late 1980s, with thousands of them squatting on disused public land.
Temirgaliyev said the draft territorial-development plan will be ready by April 25.