CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Page 62

CONTEMPORARY EURASIA
mostly concentrated in two regions: North Caucasus (Chechnya, Ingushe-
tia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia), Volga-Ural
(Tatarstan, Bashkortostan). According to the geographical position, the
Russian Muslims are divided into two communities: Muslim of the North
Caucasus and Muslims of Volga Ural region. Despite the anti-religious
policies during the Soviet Union, Islam managed to keep its essence. The
collapse of the Soviet Union brought the wave of nationalist-separatist
movements, and Islam became a unifying force for Muslims who were
fi ghting for the independence of their region.
There are two main branches of Islam: Sunni and Shia. Majority of
Muslims in Russia are Sunni. However, Muslims of the North Caucasus
and Volga – Ural are ethnically diverse. They practice diff erent forms of
Islam, are loosely connected, and have no infl uence on each other. Mus-
lims of Volga – Ural region belong to Sunni Hanafi school, while Mus-
lims in the North Caucuses profess Shafi ’i school of Sunni Islam. In
Dagestan small amount of Shia Muslims can be found. Islam in Russia
is polycentric, there are fourteen spiritual boards of Muslims across the
territory of Russia.
Vladimir Putin demonstrates no discrimination against the Muslim. All
are the citizens of the country. The president mentions that the traditional
Islam is an essential component of Russian culture. On the other hand, the
president adopted severe approaches towards the radical Islam. 2 Following
the breakup of the SU, the dynamics of Islam can be described as the rad-
icalization of Islam or the proliferation of nontraditional Islam, which in
Russia is referred to Wahhabism, Salafi sm, fundamentalism, and Islamism.
The issue of Islamic radicalism in Russia is connected to the confl icts
in the North Caucasus, particularly with Chechnya. The fi rst Chechen war
triggered the radicalization in the North Caucasus. Though it started as a
secular movement for independence, it led to the radicalization of several
warlords who later would play an important role in the second Chech-
en war. The bombings in 1999 organized by Chechen radical leaders in
Moscow showed that Russia now had to deal with terrorism. The threat
of radicals had reached to the heart of Russia, and the second campaign in
Chechnya turned into counter-terrorism operation, and the Chechen fi ght-
ers were named terrorist. 3
Though Putin successfully ceased the radicals of the North Caucasus,
still radicalism remains a major issue for the president. In the 2010s the
2
3
Vladimir Putin, “Vstrecha s Muftijami Centralizovannyh Religioznyh.”
John Russell, “Mujahedeen, Mafi a, Madmen: Russian Perceptions of Chechens During the
Wars in Chechnya, 1994-96 and 1999-2001,” Journal of Communist Studies and Transition
Politics, vol. 18, no. 1 (2002): 73-96.
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