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Doubly on the run: Lierane and her son Tymur are Crimean Tatars, a Turkic-speaking ethnic group of Muslim faith who were originally native to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

The family fled after Russia annexed Crimea exactly ten years ago - first near Kyiv, then further to western Ukraine.

But more on that later.

The Reuters news agency visited the family in Lviv, where they now live.

Lierane remembers the beginning of the Russian occupation in 2014.

Lierane, Crimean Tatar


»There was almost no one around, it was quiet.

Only a few people were walking around with the Russian flag and shouting 'Crimea is Russian, Crimea is Russian'.

There were a few Cossacks nearby, the so-called self-defense.

That's how I experienced the first days of the occupation.«

Russian soldiers and gunmen supported by the Russian regime marched on the peninsula in February 2014 and took control.

A referendum held on March 16 was intended to consolidate Russia's claim: Apparently 95 percent of voters voted for annexation to Russia.

A pseudo-legitimacy with a fake vote for Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin, who announced on March 18 that the peninsula would be accepted into the Russian Federation.

Crimea is important for Russia from a cultural, political and especially military perspective: the ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are stationed in the port city of Sevastopol.

And Crimea also played a major role as a staging area for Russian troops in the attack on Ukraine.

Back to Lierane, who opened a Crimean Tatar restaurant with her family after her first escape from Crimea.

In Irpin, near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

That went well until they had to flee again in 2022 - again from Russian soldiers.

Lierane, Crimean Tatar


»Sukhoi fighter planes flew over us.

My husband Sascha initially thought they were Ukrainian, but they were Russian.

They shot and pieces of roofs and stones fell on us, so we left.

We crawled between fences to Irpin train station.”

From there they made it to Lviv in the west of the country.

Displacement is deeply embedded in their family history.

She herself was born in Uzbekistan in 1980 after the family was deported on the orders of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in the 1940s.

She was later allowed to return.

Now, in her next exile, Lierane still dreams of returning.

Lierane, Crimean Tatar


»Maybe in 50 years I will feel like my grandmother did when she came back to Crimea 50 years ago.

It will happen at some point, there is no doubt about it.

An empire can collapse, change, disappear from the political map.

But the longing to return home remains, especially for the Crimean Tatars.

Historical memory is an interesting factor.«

Estimates put the number of Crimean Tatars at around 40,000 to 70,000 who have left Crimea since the Russian annexation.

Numerous Crimean Tatar journalists and activists have since been arrested and kidnapped.

Lierane's parents, on the other hand, stayed - and hope for better times.