Bastrykin organized an inspection because of an article about a settlement for a “religious sect” in the Moscow region; it was called an "Islamic village"

The Chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, ordered an inspection of the Aminovka cottage village under construction in the Moscow region because of journalistic materials about their connections with a “religious sect.”

“The media has expressed concerns that it is planned to create a religious enclave in this territory and that residents of nearby areas are already receiving some threats,” the department said in a statement. “One of the publications also suggests that this village is being created for a religious sect.”

The cottages are being built in a field near the village of Nechesovo, located 140 kilometers from Moscow along the Novorizhskoye Highway. The organizer is Amina Shabanova, the creator of a brand of Muslim clothing for women. On the “ecovillage” website with the slogan “Uniting the awakened!” it is presented as a “community of mature, conscious people.”

Shabanova herself calls herself an “active Muslim” on Instagram, and several posts on the Aminovka page begin with Muslim exclamations. Komsomolskaya Pravda published the settlement’s charter, which mentioned prohibitions such as smoking, alcohol, swearing, pig breeding and the presence of “persons of non-traditional sexual orientation.”

The author of the material of the Communist Party “Jamaat Aminovka” was journalist Dmitry Steshin, who became famous, among other things, because of the case; other publications called the settlement an “Islamic village.”

The Aminovka website and their Instagram do not mention religious requirements. “For reference: in our settlement, Orthodox families also buy plots. And also the Muslim intelligentsia,” wrote Aminova. “These plots are for sale to everyone! Nobody looks at your passport! — the owner of the plots, entrepreneur Khizri Mutalov, told Komsomolskaya Pravda. “A Jewish woman bought 11 hectares from me, Orthodox families bought them!”

In a conversation with several publications, including KP and Tsargrad , Shabanova’s followers were called a “sect” by a professor at MSLU and a member of the expert council under the Ministry of Justice. “They have nothing to do with Islam. These are not even Wahhabis. I inquired about the profiles of Amina Shabanova and discovered that she was a member of the so-called sect,” he said.