Residents of Kaliningrad protest against the construction of a mosque

On August 26, the text of an open letter from residents of the Moskovsky district of Kaliningrad to the chairman of the City Council of Deputies E.V. was published on the website of the Kaliningrad branch of the right-wing radical Movement against illegal emigration. Gan, Chairman of the Commission on Social Policy of the City Council of Deputies V.N. Bezrukov, deputy of the City Council of Deputies V.K. Ivanov, mayor of the city Yu.A. Savenko, head of the administration of the Moskovsky district V.A. Fuzeev. The authors of the letter, allegedly signed by 330 people, "express their great concern over the planned construction of a mosque at 32 Dzerzhinsky Street, Kaliningrad."

Their arguments look like this:

"- it is inexpedient to give the area of ​​the operating enterprise Inzhtekhprom for a mosque, which will lead to the dismissal of workers,

• it is unethical to build a mosque next to the territory of a Russian cemetery,

• the proximity of the mosque and the recreation park will cause inconvenience to both visitors to the park and Muslims,

• the construction of a mosque next to an Orthodox cemetery will lead to an aggravation of interethnic and interreligious relations in the region and in the city and to an increase in interethnic tension."

In addition, the authors of the letter note that they "do not know who initiated the construction of the mosque: the Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims (TSDUM), headed by Talgat Tadzhuddin, who gravitates towards "soft", traditional Islam, or the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Central European Region of Russia, headed by Ravil Gainutdin (he also heads the Council of Muftis of Russia), a more radical Islamic entity periodically accused of Wahhabism." Therefore, they continue, they "have no confidence that the mosque will not become a center for the spread of radical Islam in the territory of the Kaliningrad region." The letter was planned to be delivered to the addressees on August 28.

On the same site, a little later, a text of a deputy's request, almost similar in content, sent in this regard by a member of the Security Committee of the State Duma N.V. Kuryanovich (LDPR faction). The request is dated 31 August. The deputy, referring to the aforementioned letter from the residents of Kaliningrad, asks the head of the presidential administration, D.A. Medvedev "immediately take all necessary measures to prevent the construction of a mosque, since this can lead to the most unpredictable social and inter-religious consequences that can be used by Russia's enemies to rock the situation in the western enclave of the state" (copies of the request were also sent to Patriarch Alexy II, Prosecutor General V. V. Ustinov and I. I. Klebanov, Plenipotentiary Representative of the President in the North-West Federal District).

On December 10, the deputies of the city council were unable to make a decision on the construction of the mosque. It was decided to hold an off-site meeting at the site of the proposed construction, to hear the opinions of the parties and determine whether the mosque would fit into the historical center of Kaliningrad.

City Council deputy Vladimir Ivanov believes that "it was simply impossible to find a more inconvenient place for the construction of a mosque." "I looked at the concept of the development of the park - there is a water park nearby, there will be a circus big top. We will parrot all the animals. And there is also an ice palace nearby," the people's choice said.

By October, more than three hundred residents of the city had spoken out against the construction of a Muslim temple.

On October 31, the mayor of Kaliningrad, Yury Savenko, told reporters that the mosque would still be built. "The mayor's office cannot accept the situation when Orthodox churches, Catholic and Lutheran churches, Baptist and Mormon houses of worship are open in the city, and Muslims feel like outcasts," Savenko said. At the same time, "for those who are especially slow-witted and stubborn," he stressed that "despite the current prosperity and tolerance of Kaliningrad, if the city authorities begin to infringe on Muslims, society will get what is happening today in the Caucasus."

According to the mayor, "a place for a mosque has already been allocated, and it will be built there. We are talking about a park at the intersection of Kalinin Avenue and Dzerzhinsky Street."

An open letter from residents of the Moscow region // Kaliningrad branch of the DPNI. 2005. August 26.

Deputy request regarding the construction of a mosque in Kaliningrad // Ibid. 2 September.

Sources

• Disputes over the future mosque in Kaliningrad continue // Kaliningrad GTRK. 2005. October 5.
• Kaliningrad authorities intend to build a mosque in the city // Interfax. 2005. October 31.