The Grand Mufti of Russia, courtesy of Wikipedia, from Government.ru, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
Catherine Belton and Robyn Dixon at The Washington Post reveals the Putin regime’s greatest vulnerability. Russia’s security forces are focused on Putin’s political adversaries, not the existential threats to the Russian Federation:
When Vladimir Putin finally spoke about the worst terrorist attack to hit Russia in 20 years, he swept over the glaring failure of his security state to prevent the assault, which left at least 133 dead, despite a clear warning from the United States on March 7 that a strike on a concert hall could be imminent.
The former U.S. officials said the potential terrorist threat emanating from Central Asia had become a blind spot of the Putin regime while it focused on pursuing political enemies in Russia and on threats resulting from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, including drone strikes and cross-border attacks.
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“They have not prioritized the threat from ISIS that includes many Central Asians,” said Douglas London, a former senior CIA officer who has specialized in counterterrorism and Central Asia and serves as an adjunct associate professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. “Thousands of Central Asians joined the Islamic State, and many returned from Syria and Iraq after the loss of the caliphate. A lot of them rose to very senior positions and had come from either the army, the police or the intelligence services of a number of Central Asian states.”
“The Central Asian element of ISIS had always targeted Russia,” London added. “I don’t think there is shock and surprise in Russian intelligence that there was an issue. It just simply wasn’t sufficiently high on their agenda.”
The bigger picture is even more ominous for the Putin-occupied Russian Federation. The Moscow Times reports:
Around 30 percent of the Russian population will practice Islam within the next 15 years, Russia’s grand mufti has predicted, citing demographic trends.
Russia’s Muslim-majority regions, including republics in the North Caucasus and the republic of Tatarstan, are known to have the highest birth rates in the country, reflecting similar trends worldwide. Various estimates place the current Muslim population in Russia at between 14 million and 20 million people, or between 10 to 14 percent of Russia’s total population of 146.8 million in 2018.
“According to experts, Russia’s [Muslim] population will increase to 30 percent in a decade and a half,” said Ravil Gainutdin, the chairman of the Council of Muftis, a religious group representing Russia’s Muslim community….
Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov, an official in Russia’s Orthodox Church, agreed with Gainutdin’s forecast and predicted that “there won’t be any Russians left in 2050.”
“It’s too late,” he told the Govorit Moskva radio station when asked if the demographic trend could be reversed.
With the slavic population of the Russian Federation is imploding, due in part to plunging life expectancy, and the Islamic populations of the Russian Federation booming, some estimates project that the Russian Federation will be 50% Moslem by 2050. Per Arab News:
Another factor contributing to Russia’s Muslim landscape is the country’s ongoing population decline, allied with the expansion of the Muslim minority. Demography has potentially put Islam on a trajectory to be Russia’s majority religion by 2050.
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The growth of “Muslim Russia” is helping propel the Kremlin into assuming a leading role in settling major Middle Eastern conflicts.
As such, Russian officials say Islam is an integral part of the country’s culture. Russia and Saudi Arabia are increasingly acting together in Islam-related arenas and there is a robust gravitational pull between these two countries in the sphere of mutual respect and promoting anti-hate speech.
The [Muslim World League] conducted its meetings in key parts of the Russian Federation, including Chechen capital Grozny, where the mix of religious and ethnic harmony is important. Organized under the patronage of the Russian government and the presidency of the Chechen Republic, the MWL conference held special significance for both Moscow and Grozny.
Understanding the role of social and religious organizations in spreading moderation is important in Russia because of the country’s inherent issues with Islam in culture. The mufti spiritual boards are known for their individualism in determining Russia’s Muslim future. This fact helps create a situation where the MWL can provide guidance, especially with regards to moderating voices across religious communities.
Insh’Allah.
Glory to Ukraine.
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