Alina Smutko, a photojournalist and visual storyteller reporting for RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service and the Crimea.Realities website, has been documenting the lives of ordinary Crimeans since 2016. A central theme of her work is the changes taking place on the peninsula since its 2014 annexation by the Russian Federation. In this series of photos taken in 2018, she reveals the struggles faced by the relatives and neighbors of Crimean Tatars arrested by Russian authorities on terrorism charges, as well as the families of Crimean Tatar activists who are missing and believed to have been abducted by Russian security services. Smutko says Crimean Tatars, most of whom are muslim, can easily fall into disfavor with the state security services, often for as little as discussing topics of interest even to apolitical muslims like the meaning of life or rituals.
Left Behind
1
Liana Belialova holds her six-month old daughter in her arms at her home in the Kamenka village near Simferopol. Belialova’s husband is facing charges of “cooperating with a terrorist organization.”
2
A prayer meeting in the basement of a Crimean Tatar activist named Ervin Ibragimov, who has been missing since May 2016. More than a dozen Crimean Tatars are believed to have been abducted since the 2014 annexation of the peninsula by Russia.
3
A police officer records guests leaving the prayer meeting at Ibragimov’s home.
4
A prayer meeting held for Crimean Tatar activist Emir-Usein Kuku on the anniversary of his arrest. He is currently in jail in southern Russia on charges of participating in a terrorist organization.