Is The Kremlin Scared Of A Muslim Uprising?
- 21.05.2026, 13:18
Mass arrests of muftis have begun in Russia.
A wave of detentions of representatives of the Muslim clergy has swept across Russia, the Agency has noted. Reports from pro-government telegram channels and state media suggest that we are talking about about about a dozen people.
The detentions of Mufti of Mordovia Rail-Khazrat Asainov and former Mufti of Karelia Visam Ali Bardvil have been officially confirmed. The former was suspected of bribing the head of the Islamic Economics and Finance master's program at Mordovian State University. Deputy Mufti of the republic Imam Rashit-Khazrat Abdrashitov said that, according to the investigation, Asainov tried to give money so that students could pass the session. Bardvil, according to TASS and Moscow City Court files, was arrested on May 15 for 15 days for disobeying police at Sheremetyevo airport because he refused to show his documents.
According to TV anchor Ruslan Ostashko, Henny Mohammed, chairman of the Central Regional Public Organization "Community of Muslims of the Northwest," was detained in St. Petersburg. Also attracting the attention of law enforcers was El Hih Nidal Awadallah Ahmed, an adviser to the mufti of the Saratov region and a teacher at the Sheikh Said madrassa.
According to pro-government channels, representatives of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (DUM) of Russia and associates of its head, Mufti Ravil Gainutdin, were also detained in Moscow and North Ossetia, while in Mordovia five people were put under investigation at once. It is alleged that security forces are probing their links to "foreign structures" and the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia.
Gainutdin has headed the DUM since its founding in 1994. He regularly represents Muslims at official events, including those attended by Vladimir Putin. In November 2025, Putin presented him with the Order "For Valorous Labor."
Despite this, the organization's relations with the authorities have become more complicated in recent years. In 2024, the Prosecutor General's Office issued a representation to the DUM because of a fatwa on polygamy, and in 2025, the Moscow City Court declared the encyclopedic dictionary "Islam in the North Caucasus," edited by the deputy head of the department Damir Mukhetdinov, extremist because of the articles "Wahhabis of the North Caucasus" and "History of Islam in Chechnya."
The detentions followed a speech by emigrated former Chechen deputy prime minister Ruslan Kutayev, who said Muslims living in Moscow were ready to take over at the right moment. "At hour X, when it is necessary to act in Russia, we will act... What is behind us? People who, if necessary, will tear off their heads, blow their heads off, and go to the barricades... We will establish there the power that is convenient for us," he said in April. Kutayev claimed that Russia is in "chaos," no one "trusts the authorities" and "everyone knows that Putin has lost."