Muslim Russia

"Muslim foundations are making an important contribution to promoting peace in society, providing spiritual and moral education for many people, as well as fighting extremism and xenophobia. Russia does not need to seek friendship with the Muslim world: Our country is an organic part of this world."
(former) President (currently Prime Minister) Dmitry Medvedev, 2009

"Russia is going through a religious transformation that will be of even greater consequence for the international community than the collapse of the Soviet Union."
Paul Goble, Russian minorities expert

"...The Kremlin has discriminated against its Muslim minority and ignored (even abetted) the rise of corrosive xenophobia among its citizens. This has bred resentment and alienation among Russia's Muslims -- sentiments that radical Islamic groups have been all too eager to exploit."
Ilan Berman, American Foreign Policy Council

Chechen Islamist terrorists have bedevilled Russian authorities for decades. While they don't represent the entire Chechen population's desires which is not to separate with full autonomy because of the financial support from Russia they would then lose within the Russian Federation, the deadly jihadist attacks against Russians have been compellingly brutal and hugely successful in terms of the deaths they've caused.

Dmitri Medvedev's declaration about Russia's Muslim population being integral to the country is partly correct, but profoundly hypocritical as well in his denial of its involvement in extremism. Much blood has been shed and will continue to be shed as long as fanatical Muslims consider themselves obliged to join jihad to work for a global Caliphate that would see Islam dominate all other religions, cultures and societies.

Russia is undergoing a slow but definite demographic change. Its dominant Slavic population, resistant to the presence of Muslims, have returned to Orthodox Christianity in response to the presence of Muslims in what was once a Slavic country and is now slowly, inevitably turning into a Muslim-dominated country.

Muslims talk openly now of transforming the country, just as they do in European countries like Britain, France, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and elsewhere. Confident in the power of the cradle.

Tatar women living in Moscow give birth to an average of 6 children; Chechen and Ingush women birth ten children on average. Additionally, between three to four million Muslims have migrated from ex-republics of the U.S.S.R. to Russia, coming from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Moreover, some ethnic Russians are beginning to convert to Islam. Ethnic Muslims are representative of 15% of the Russian population, a proportion that is growing, swiftly.

In short order, Muslims will represent half the conscripts in the Russian military. Who will they be fighting for, Russia or Islam? It is a question posed by Joseph DAgostino of the Population Research Institute: "Will such a military operate effectively given the fury that many domestic Muslims feel toward the Russian military's tactics in the Muslim region of Chechnya? What if other Muslim regions of Russia -- some of which contain huge oil reserves -- rebel against Moscow? Will Muslim soldiers fight and kill to keep them part of the Russian motherland?"

Muslim analyst Daniya Isayev speaks of Muslim Russia, reflecting the fact that Muslims constitute a majority of 57 of Russia's 182 ethnic groups. Islam, he claims is "an inalienable part of Russia. Russia as a state and civilization could not exist without Islam and the Muslims." In much of the territory that is now Russia, he claims, Muslims preceded ethnic Russians.

These statistics and claims do not endear themselves to ethnic Russians concerned about their country's future. Turning against Muslims in the process. Resulting in media portrayals not quite accurately respectful of the Islamic presence in the country. All of this leading to attacks on mosques, on efforts to halt Muslim immigration. And certainly contributing to the rise of Russian nationalist groups such as the "Movement against Illegal Immigration".

While attention has focused on large and growing Muslim populations in countries like France, Britain and Sweden, Russia is the de facto country with the largest Muslim community in Europe. Boding for the future an uneasy question mark.