“For Russia, Islam is no longer a threat”

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Alexey Malashenko (Carnegie Endowment for Peace) interviewed by Matteo Tacconi

The situation is calm, so far from the one Moscow had in the Nineties. The second Chechen war is over and Vladimir Putin, the outgoing president of Russia, no longer has to deal with Islam as a threat, nor does his dolphin Dimitri Medvedev. “Today the Muslim community in Russia has good relations with the central state”, says Alexey Malashenko from Carnegie Endowment for Peace. Malashenko is an appreciated expert of Islamic issues in Russia and has written several books and essays on the topic.

In his opinion, “the first Chechen war divided the Muslim commonwealth”. Some of its leaders felt hurt by the conflict and saw it as a blow to the Muslim faith. The second Chechen war, the one fought during Putin’s era, brought about a big change because the growth of radical Islam challenged traditional Islam, which is peaceful. Moreover, it also overshadowed patriotism, which was a strong value in the first Chechen war. That is why the community leaders started dissociating with Islamists and realigned themselves with the presidency, Malashenko argues.

Mr. Malashenko, president Putin is leaving the Kremlin. How do you evaluate Putin’s view of Islam? Is the latter still a threat for Moscow?

Well, the second Chechen war is over. I do not believe that Putin thinks there is an Islamic threat inside Russia, in Northern Caucasus. The situation differs from the one we had seven years ago, when among the Muslims there was a mix of Islamic resistance, frustration and disappointment with the central State. Now for Putin the situation is much simpler. The majority of clergymen are very loyal to Putin. Everyone wants to be more loyal to the president than the others. There is a sort of competition. During official meetings with Putin they want to be pictured close to him and they fight to have the best position in the photo. To summarize, despite the huge number of groups and their different points of view, the Muslim communities have the will to live peacefully, inside a large “Muslim commonwealth”.

Russia held parliamentary elections in 2007. Citizens will elect the new president in March. Has Islam affected the political debate?

Islam did not play a significant role in the December 2007 parliamentary elections. Times have changed. In the Nineties the role of Muslims and their participation were much more significant. There was a discussion inside the Islamic community. The question was whether to support Eltsin or not. Someone said “we have to vote for him”, someone else proposed to do something “against” the Kremlin. It was the time of the first Chechen war. Islam was a sensitive issue. But, as I have already explained, today the situation is completely different. To summarize, I think the Islamic question is far less important. Today there is no Islamic threat to the Russian political establishment.

Patriotism in the first, fundamentalism in the second. Have the Chechen wars been so different?

There was a double standard of understanding. On one side, it was a war – a civil war – against Muslims, and Muslims from Russia accepted the idea that there was a confrontation with the central State. But at the same time there was another vision, an idea that separatism was linked to fundamentalist or non traditional Islam. In the second Chechen conflict this thought became stronger. We also have to consider that radical Islam brought a lot of instability in Northern Caucasus, in Daghestan and Northern Ossetia. That is why the majority of Russian Muslims started being suspicious of radicalism. There has always been a traditional Islam in Russia, that is to say Hanafi or Sufi Islam, and today there is a renaissance of historical Russian Islam.

And there is a Sufi revival in Chechnya too. According to the international press, President Ramzan Kadyrov is behind this phenomenon. Is this true?

Yes it is. Ahmet Kadyrov, the former Chechen president and father of Ramzan, like his son, was loyal to Putin, and was not involved in the process of the Islamic renaissance and he did his best to downplay the re-emergence of Islam. Now we have a process of the politicization of Islam, also in the other Caucus republics. The politicization of traditional Sufi Islam, the so-called Islamic brotherhood, is very interesting for the region. Islam is not viewed as a political tool by the secular administration, but at the same time there is a marriage between Islam and civil power. It is a new phenomenon for Northern Caucasus and for Russia too, as there is an ongoing change of mentality. Ramzan Kadyrov says a general politicization of Islam is a threat, but political elites accepted it and they participate in the process. It is a “non situation”. Caucus politicians politicize Islam but they want to show their loyalty to Putin. It is a strong contradiction, as Moscow has always fought against political Islam. I think it is rather negative for Putin because there is a cultural revolution that is empowering the religious beliefs and weakening the civil behaviours. Today people from Caucus feel Muslims first, then they say they are Russian citizens.

Mr. Malashenko, you said Muslim leaders are close to the federal administration. But the Kremlin is much closer to the Orthodox church and first of all Russia is a Christian state.

Putin wants to use the Russian church as a tool for consolidating his political career. But the Orthodox Church does not want to be controlled by the government, they want to be one of the Kremlin’s partners; they want to elaborate, together with the civil power, the state ideology, the so-called “National Idea”. The Kremlin is forced to see the Church as a peer. Among the people, the popularity of the Church is close to 50%. The popularity of the State Duma (Russia’s lower chamber) fluctuates between 5 and 7%. It is a very big difference. Orthodox Church is very powerful and very influential. The Muslims are afraid of it because bishops want to occupy the position of “religion number one” and according to these figures they have the strength to do it.

Russia takes part in the Islamic Conference as an observer. Does this not hurt the Orthodox hierarchies?

This problem is not connected with the relations between Islam and Orthodox Church. It is a political move made by Putin, who wants to play the role of a global mediator. This is why he needs a seat in the Islamic conference.

Dimitri Medvedev will win the presidential elections. Do you expect to see any changes?

It is a mystery, he has never talked about religion and politics. The only thing I know is that he has very good relations with Ramzan Kadyrov, who is very happy with the Medvedev’s nominee for the presidential post. He fears the former Defence minister Sergei Ivanov a lot, who could have been the presidential candidate of United Russia, Putin’s party. But Medvedev won that challenge. This is better for Kadyrov.

27 Feb 2008

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