BELOGORSK, Crimea — Crimea’s Tatars have bitter memories of the 1944 deportation that tore them from their native peninsula. With Russia again in control, some here say pressure is building once more.

Russian security forces have searched the homes of leaders of the Muslim minority group for banned books. Young Tatar men have been kidnapped off Crimean streets. Tatar activists are sitting in jail. A few have been killed. Some Tatars say they now fear to venture out of their houses. . .
Analysts say Russian security services appear to be employing tactics they have used against Islamist insurgencies within their borders. The difference in Crimea, Tatar leaders say, is that there is no insurgency. But they fear that the tough approach may radicalize the most disaffected members of their community.

Memories of Soviet-era repression run deep, since Tatars were allowed to return to Crimea only in the final years of the Soviet Union. As part of an independent Ukraine, they developed new structures to govern themselves, which have now been shut down.At least five Tatars have been kidnapped since March, and two more are missing, according to human rights observers. Two Tatars have died under mysterious circumstances. . .

International observers have condemned the way Russian authorities are handling their dealings with the Tatars.
“This is a population with a really tragic history that went through hell to get back to their historical homeland, were not successful in having their rights fully recognized by the Ukrainians, and are now coming under huge pressure from the Russians,” said Nils Muiznieks, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, who wrote a report about the Crimea situation that was released in October.
He said Russia’s main security agency “has one playbook and it’s based on the North Caucasus, and they’re treating many Tatars as being potential jihadis.” One worry, he said, is that Russia’s fears of the Tatars will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. “It’s a highly risky proposition to decapitate this population of its leadership,” he said.The top Tatar leader is now in exile in Kiev, forced for the second time in his life from his home in Crimea.