Russian muftis become ordinary officials promoting Moscow's imperialism - expert

In today's Russia, particularly in the Republic of Tatarstan, Islamic public figures have become alike ordinary government officials backing Moscow's imperial agenda.

This was reported to Ukrinform by the Deputy Prime Minister of the government of independent Tatarstan in exile Aida Abdrakhmanova, who commented on the statement of the Mufti of Tatarstan, Kamil Samigullin, that participants in the war in Ukraine will go to heaven as "martyrs."

First of all, Abdrakhmanova recalled that since the bloody capture and subsequent occupation of the Kazan Khanate by the Moscow army of Ivan the Terrible, Islam has been an important factor in the preservation of the Tatar nation. But now the situation has changed, she added.

"Being in the crosshairs and under pressure of security agencies, Islam in today's Tatarstan ceases to have a key significance for the self-preservation of the Tatar identity as an identifier of struggle against the Moscow occupiers. Muftis and Khozrats have lost their sovereignty and are completely subordinated to the political will of Putin and his henchmen," said Abdrakhmanova.

According to her, a mufti in Putin's Russia is "alike a state official who acts to preserve his position, power, and financial resources." Accordingly, supporting the state interests pursued by imperial Moscow, these people in every possible way encourage their compatriots to join Russia's war against Ukraine, deliberately mislead the Tatars, promising them heaven for this brutal aggression.

As for the mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan, Kamil Samigullin, he has been supporting Russia's invasion of sovereign Ukraine since 2014 and boasts that he has already visited Russian-occupied Donbas three times this year alone, Abdrakhmanova noted.

She sees mufti Samigullin's comparison of the Second World War and the current aggression against Ukraine as blasphemy. "Yes, these are similar wars, only in that case the USSR and the colonized peoples stood up against the Nazis, and in this case of the so-called ‘special military operation’, Russia itself acts as a Nazi and occupier! Since no one attacked Russia, and Tatarstan in particular, it was Russia that attacked sovereign Ukraine, continues the killing of civilians, violence and torture against Ukrainians, destruction of infrastructure," summed up the deputy prime minister of the government of independent Tatarstan in exile.

Earlier, the mufti of Tatarstan, Kamil Samigullin, called Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine “righteous” and explained in which case the participants of this aggression will be recognized as “martyrs for the faith” and “go to heaven”.

As reported, during the round table hosted by Ukrinform on the topic "Ukraine and the national movements of the peoples of the Russian Federation: fellow travelers or allies?" Deputy Prime Minister of the government of independent Tatarstan in exile, Aida Abdrakhmanova, said that the representatives of the national movements in Russia now have, perhaps, the last chance in history to preserve themselves as nations and revive their national states. But for further action in this direction, they expect recognition from the international community of their right to self-determination.

Photo from the archive of Aida Abdrakhmanova