Soviet government carried out a series of deportations to Siberia and the Union Republics of Central Asia. Collaboration with Nazi Germany was cited as the official reason for this policy, but this has been disputed by individuals and organizations who characterize them as Soviet attempts at ethnic cleansing. Among the ethnicities subject to deportation policies (excluding non-Muslims) were the Crimean Tatars, the Chechens, the Ingush, the Balkars, the Karachays, and the Meskhetian Turks. The Soviet deportation campaign resulted in a massive loss of life, in addition to widespread displacement. Formally, the mass deportation of Crimean Tatars began on 17 May 1944. More than 32,000 officers of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) participated in displacing over 193,865 Crimean Tatars; 151,136 were sent to the Uzbek SSR, 8,597 were sent to the Mari ASSR, 4,286 were sent to the Kazakh SSR, and the remaining 29,846 were sent to various regions within the Russian SFSR. According to official NKVD figures, nearly 20% of the deportees died over the following year and a half, while Crimean Tatar activists have instead placed the casualty rate at around 46%. See also Deportation of the Crimean Tatars Operation Lentil (Caucasus) Persecution of Muslims in the Soviet Union Population transfer in the Soviet Union Shami-Damulla Soviet Orientalist studies in Islam Hujum References Further reading Nahaylo, Bohdan and Victor Swoboda. Soviet Disunion: A History of the nationalities Nationalities problem in the USSR (1990) excerpt Rashid, Ahmed. The Resurgence of Central Asia: Islam or Nationalism? (2017) Smith, Graham, ed. The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union (2nd ed. 1995) Tasar, Eren. Soviet and Muslim: The Institutionalization of Islam in Central Asia. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. Religion in Central Asia Articles containing video clips Religious persecution by communists