Kyiv – A TV program broadcast on 18 April 2006 claims that Arraid, the Ukrainian Muslim Interregional Association of Civic Organizations, is financially supporting Islamic extremists in southern Ukrainian Crimea. Arraid has released an open letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, the mass media, and the Ukrainian nation denying this claim. arraid.org posted the news on 20 April 2006.

On the 18 April episode of the “Special Correspondent” TV program, broadcast on the Inter TV channel, author and host Andrii Tsaplienko talked about Islamic extremism in Crimea, in particular about Uzbeks who were exiled from Ukraine last winter but continue living there illegally. According to Arraid representatives, “the journalist, citing [Ukraine’s] special [security] forces, calls these people soldiers of the Islamist Movement of Uzbekistan and connects their activity in Ukraine with the Hizb ut-Takhrir Party, which, in its turn, according to the journalist, is backed up by the Arraid Fund.”

The letter from Arraid states that Arraid has always been publicly open and its activity has been repeatedly highlighted by the mass media. Its main trends are charity and cultural educational work, which in Crimea is in close coordination with the Spiritual Administration of Crimean Muslims, open and transparent and in accord with Ukrainian legislation.

Arraid requests an apology and public refutation of the information about the activities of Arraid given in the “Special Correspondent” program.

Source Risu.org.ua/eng/