The leader of Crimean Tatars proposed Saturday that the 300,000-strong indigenous Muslim minority seek autonomy on the Black Sea peninsula annexed from Ukraine by Russia.

Speaking to more than 200 delegates gathered for the top Crimean Tatars' assembly, Refat Chubarov said: "In the life of every nation there comes a time when it must make decisions that will determine its future.

"I ask you to approve . . . the start of political and legal procedures aimed at creating ethnic and territorial autonomy of the Crimean Tatars of their historic territory of Crimea."