Crimean Tatars , a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority who in 2001 made up 12.1 % of the population , formed in Crimea in the late Middle Ages , after the Crimean Khanate had come into existence . The Crimean Tatars were forcibly expelled to Central Asia by Joseph Stalin 's government as a form of collective punishment , on the grounds that they had formed pro-German Tatar Legions . After the fall of the Soviet Union , Crimean Tatars began to return to the region . According to the 2001 Ukrainian population census , 58 % of the population of Crimea are ethnic Russians and 24 % are ethnic Ukrainians
forcibly expelled
Deportation of the Crimean Tatars
Crimea