Six current problems of Muslim politics in Russia

On November 28, Russian Journal published an article by Alexander Morozov, which discusses the "Muslim theme" in the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. The author notes that in the current campaign for elections to the State Duma - in contrast to the campaigns of 1995 and 1999. - "confessional themes are essentially given over entirely to "small parties". At the same time, the "electoral prospects" of parties and movements representing the interests of Russian Muslims (first of all, "True Patriots of Russia" headed by M. Radjabov) are "disappointing." "Therefore," A. Morozov writes, "the question of the 'Islamic factor' in the Duma elections of 2003 - and in fact already in the presidential campaign - is of interest in a completely different plane." In his opinion, "there are six urgent problems of Muslim politics in Russia".

1. "The washing out of ethnic Muslims from the political elite, from the federal administrative elite. The social elevator that lifted loyal and mature people from Tataria, Central Asia and the Caucasus to Moscow in Soviet times is not working well. <...> Therefore, the question of about how figures from Islamic regions will be recruited in the unitary state of V. Putin.

2. "... For Putin's second term, it is essential to restore the corps of ethnic Muslim internationalists in the security and law enforcement agencies" (A. Morozov speaks in this connection of the "Kadyrov factor").

3. Relations with the OIC require "crystallizing the core of a cultural, loyal, secularized Islam suitable for presentation in the global Islamic context, which is systematically built into Putin's state" ("Aslanbekov's factor").

4. "The fourth problem node is connected with the Volga region, or rather, with the dismantling of the regimes of Shaimiev and Rakhimov. Everyone understands that this dismantling may have all-Russian consequences. Or it may not. The question is whether it will be possible to keep Tatarstan and Bashkiria for the population scheme for interpreting events: “Moscow vs. ours.” Or the situation will move down to another and sadder level – international.”

5. "Religious Extremism". According to A. Morozov, "the novelty of the situation on the eve of the presidential elections lies in the fact that the problem of "religious extremism" will be removed from the agenda altogether. Propagandists will now shift all this "extremism" outside of Russia. theme in its old sound.

6. "Both cooperation with the OIC, and the need for the final dismantling of Yeltsinism, and the search for tools for the political integration of the Russian population raise the question of what kind of Islamic infrastructure should be in Putin's Russia." In this regard, A. Morozov mentions the "Russian Islam" project , which, in his opinion, "just consisted in an attempt to show a strategy for creating such an infrastructure," but "had significant shortcomings and met with sharp criticism. Islamic infrastructure remains top of the agenda."

In conclusion, A. Morozov emphasizes: "... all these real problems are not presented at the elections, since no attempts were made to unite Islamic political organizations into one bloc at these elections. When building blocs, a spark of ideological discussion, a dispute about strategies, is inevitably struck. Radjabov's party does not need any ideology. The presidential campaign will be much more interesting in this respect."

Sources

• Morozov A. Six Islamic problems of Vladimir Putin: Muslims in the elections to the State Duma and in the presidential campaign // Russian magazine. 2003. November 28.