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Andrei Syzranov,
Ph. D. (Hist.), Assistant professor,
Astrakhan State University
RUSSIA'S POLICY IN FIGHTING ISLAMIC
EXTREMISM IN THE VOLGA REGION,
LATE 1990s - EARLY 2000s
At the end of the 20th century - beginning of the 21st century ideas which were alien to Russian traditional Islam began to penetrate the Volga area, and this was due to an influx of representatives of various ethnic groups from Central Asia and the North Caucasus. This was followed by the arrival of extremist groups from there, which were joined by some local young men. The law enforcement agencies of the region unfolded a systematic struggle against them.
Members of the extremist religious organization "Hizb ut-Tahrir" ("Party of Islamic Liberation") have been especially active in the area. It published propaganda literature in Russian, opened a special site in the Internet and distributed leaflets on mass scale in mosques. In February 2003, by a decree of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the activity of this organization was banned. Despite that, small groups of members of this organization are still present in certain regions in the Volga area.
The bodies of power in Ulyanovsk region are actively engaged in fighting national and religious extremism. The situation there is aggravated by the actual split of the local Muslim community ("umma"), which is used by Muslim missionaries from Central Asia and the North Caucasus who regularly visit Ulyanovsk region with a view to disseminating radical Islamic ideology among local Muslims.
In Orenburg region supporters of radical Islam concentrated their activity in "Al-Furkan" madrasah in Buguruslan, whose students were involved in a number of terrorist acts, including the seizure of the
secondary school in Beslan. In September 2004 explosive material and devices were found in the madrasah after which it was closed. Several students and teachers of it were tried and sentenced, and ten members of "Hizb ut-Tahrir" from Central Asia were deported.
The law enforcement agencies of Samara region have found and apprehended several missionaries of "pure" Islam distributing extremist literature. It was established that all of them were "Hizb ut-Tahrir" members. Fifteen men organized a group storing arms and explosives and distributing extremist literature. They maintained connections with members of this organization in other countries through the Internet.
The dissemination of radical Islam in Astrakhan region has been going on for about two decades. In the first half of the 1990s people from Tsumadin district of Daghestan (a republic in the North Caucasus) formed a salafist ("Wahhabi") community ("jamaat') in Astrakhan. At first it numbered three hundred members, mainly people of North Caucasian origin. They had a prayer house distributing special literature and held meetings with local Muslims.
Talking of Islamic fundamentalism, one should mention that an underground all-Russia conference was held in Astrakhan on June 9, 1990, which set up the Islamic party of revival ("Nahdat"). It was attended by several dozen Islamic fundamentalists from Daghestan , the Middle Volga area, Moscow and Tajikistan. The party program called for the revival of pure Islam and the need to follow the Islamic way of life. Members of the party put forward as one of their main tasks the formation of their faction in the U.S.S.R. parliament. However, the ideas of that organization had no mass support of Astrakhan Muslims. They were not eager to use Islam for political purposes, and the ideas of Islamic fundamentalism were unattractive for the local people.
In the 2000s several salafist groupings came into being in Astrakhan and in several villages of the region. Some of them were
preparing acts of terror. Most of them were uncovered and smashed by the special services, and their members arrested, tried and sentenced.
In the summer and autumn of 2010 several attacks on policemen took place in Astrakhan by members of a religious extremist organization. Most of them were captured, tried and put in prison.
In early May 2011 members of another extremist religious group were arrested, who planned to commit several terrorist acts in Astrakhan on May 9 (Victory Day). It was later found out that they were part in explosions at government offices in Volgograd in late April 2011. There were a great many arms, much explosive material, and enormous amount of religious extremist literature in the group's premises.
The problems of religious and national intolerance, and especially the threat of extremism under the slogans of Islam were discussed at a meeting of representatives of the Muslim clergy of Astrakhan region and the Republic of Daghestan with the heads of the regional administration and law enforcement agencies of Astrakhan region in early December of 1999. It was decided to step up the fight against religious extremism and develop cooperation in this sphere.
The leadership of the Astrakhan Regional Spiritual Board of Muslims has been carrying on an active work in the sphere of education and charity. It also devotes much attention to measures in the social sphere, and problems of peace and mutual understanding in the country as a whole and in the region in particular.
The ideas of radical Islam penetrated the Republic of Mordovia on the Volga in 1997. However, they met with opposition on the part of moderate Muslims, and the most active proponents and supporters of these ideas had to leave Mordovia for Astrakhan. But the salafist community they set up proved self-sufficient and continued to exist and function.
In 2005 many books of extremist nature were found in the cellar of the Cathedral mosque in the republican capital Saransk, which were used by several madrasahs in other regions.
As a result of the penetration and dissemination of radical Islamic ideas in Russia, the number of young Muslims adhering to fundamentalist and extremist views has grown considerably. This is due to many factors. At meetings of the presidents of the Volga republics and governors of the Volga regions with local Muslim leaders in recent years the subject of opposition to religious extremism has always been discussed. Among the main reasons for increasing fundamentalist and extremist trends were the activity of foreign radical-extremist movements and organizations, which discredit Russian Islam and create a threat of a split in the ranks of Muslims, lack of proper religious Muslim education, drawbacks in the work of local legal Muslim organizations, and insufficient attention to Islam of the regional and local authorities. In order to fight extremism it is necessary to revive and popularize the values of traditional Islam of the Volga area and improve interaction of the bodies of power and Islamic organizations in the social sphere, culture, education and work among young people.
"Kaspiisky region: politika, ekonomika, kultura, " Astrakhan, 2013, No 2, pp 19-24.
Andrei Baranov,
D. Sc. (Politics), Kuban State University POLITICIZATION OF ISLAM IN THE PRESENT-DAY CRIMEA: CONFLICTOLOGICAL ASPECT
Islamic religious associations are an influential actor in political processes in the present-day Crimea. Such aspects as reasons for conflicts, strategy and tactics of the sides of conflicts, interaction of
