The new body will play coordinating role. It will be co-chaired by the leaders of three existing Muslim organisations. Medvedev and Putin want to promote a Russian way for Islam.

Moscow (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Russian Muslim religious leaders have agreed to set up the first body to represent jointly the various Islamic organisations that exist in the Russian Federation. Yesterday, representatives from the Central Muslim Board of Russia, the Russian Mufti Council and the North Caucasus Muslim Coordinating Centre agreed to establish the Supreme Muslim Coordinating Council of Russia.

A group led by Saint Petersburg Mufti Jafar Ponchayev reached the decision. Talgat Tadzhuddin, head of the Central Muslim Board of Russia, made the initial proposal. The new organisation will not however be legally registered.

“In recognition of the absolute necessity to unify the Ummah, the working group is of the opinion that forming a single organisation is currently impossible and unacceptable,” the religious leaders said in a press release issued yesterday. The Supreme Council will instead be co-chaired by representatives from existing national Islamic organisations; they are Mufti Tadzhuddin, Mufti Council Chief Ravil Gainutdin, and North Caucasus Muslim Coordinating Centre Chief Ismail Berdiyev. The chair will rotated among the members. In the future, more muftis could join.

Analysts and the authorities have welcomed the initiative to unify in a single coordinating agency all Islamic groups in Russia. For their point of view, the decision provides an opportunity to control and contain extremist tendencies that have fuelled separatist movements, especially in the Caucasus.

In recent years, various Arab countries have allowed the construction of Orthodox churches on their territory. The Kremlin and Moscow Patriarchate have also been quite active in building bridges with the Islamic world.

On several occasions, President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin have met Muslim leaders and expressed their government’s intention of promoting a Russian way for Islam, a religion that claims 20 million members or 16 per cent of the population of the Russian Federation.

• russia islam coordinating body central muslim board mufti tadzhuddin
• mufti council chief ravil gainutdin north caucasus muslim coordinating centre chief ismail berdiyev