CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Página 63

LIANA HAYRAPETYAN
emergence of ISIS brought new problems for Russia. Many radical Mus-
lims from Russia not only started to support but also to join the terror-
ist organization. According to Aleksandr Bortnikov, the head of Russian
FSB, nearly 4500 Russian citizens have been fi ghting in ISIS by 2017,
and many of them form the North Caucasus. 4
Compared to the North Caucasus the situation in the Volga Ural re-
gion was stable. However, the situation changed after terror attacks in
Kazan in July 2012, when a prominent Islamic cleric was killed. These
events shocked not only Tatarstan but entire Russia. Tatars are considered
to be culturally assimilated to Russians. There is a well-structured Spiri-
tual Board of Muslims that controls the religious life of the society. For
almost two decades the Muslim and Orthodox communities of Tatarstan
lived in harmony. The July events indicate that radicalism has passed the
borders of North Caucasus and gradually is penetrating into the central
areas of Russia.
When studying the issue of radical Islam, the North Caucasus comes
fi rst, while little has been written on the Volga-Ural region. Thus, this pa-
per aims to study radicalism in the Volga Ural region, concentrating on
the case of Tatarstan. Tatarstan is of the twenty-two federal republics of
Russia. The republic is one of the most important subjects of the federal
state. Tatarstan is a donor region because of its petroleum resources. The
rise of radicalism can defi nitely bring destabilization of the region which
will negatively aff ect the federal state. The role of Islamic factor for Tatar
people, the factors that contribute to the rise of radicalism will be studied
in its all complexity for the fi rst time in English.
Literature Review
Most of the literature connects the spread of radicalism to economic
grievances, political marginalization and perceived injustices. 5 These fac-
tors aff ect religious groups diff erently: religious persecution together with
economic marginalization make individual embrace violence. That was
the case in Chechnya. The fi rst Chechen war (1994-1996) facilitated the
4
5
“FSB Rasstavljaet Akcenty,” (in Russian), [FSB puts emphasis],” Nezavisimaya Gazeta, De-
cember 19, 2017, https://rg.ru/2017/12/19/aleksandr-bortnikov-fsb-rossii-svobodna-ot-poli-
ticheskogo-vliianiia.html (accessed April 15, 2018).
Edwin Bakker, “Jihadi Terrorists in Europe, Institute of International Relations,” (The
Hague: Clingendael Institute, 2006); Marc Sageman, “Understanding Terror Networks,”
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004); Stephen Blomberg et al, “Economic
Conditions and Terrorism,” European Journal of Political Economy, vol. 20, no. 2 (2004):
463–478.
63