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Introductory Comments:
While the world is focused on the political and military aspects of the war not much is heard about the religious connection, at least in the popular media. This short piece introduces us to yet another and more important dimension of the conflict-one that will be explored at length soon, thanks to the insightfulness of other investigators. (RJG)
Putin’s Islamic Jihad
BY MARIO ALEXIS PORTELLA ·(UNDATED ARTICLE)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed allowing volunteers, including from abroad, to help pro-Moscow separatists fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region, more than two weeks after he sent thousands of Russian troops into the neighboring country.
At a meeting of Russia’s security council, the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said there were 16,000 volunteers in the Middle East who were ready to fight alongside Russian-backed forces in the breakaway Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
“If you see that there are these people who want of their own accord, not for money, to come to help the people living in Donbas, then we need to give them what they want and help them get to the conflict zone.”
This comes after the armed Muslim Chechen fighters—renowned for their barbaric violence and human rights abuses—were levelled after their convoy of 56 tanks destroyed near Hostomel northeast of Kyiv, by Ukrainian missile fire on the second day of the Chechens’ deployment. The once hailed great protector of Orthodox civilization, is now bringing in Islamic mercenaries from Syria to fight Orthodox Christians, joining his Chechen Islamist mercenaries in doing the same.
Chechnya is a land-locked region located in the North Caucasus, a member republic of the Russian Federation, a strictly conservative state with a majority of Sunni Muslims. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russian authorities established a pro-Russian regime in 2003, managing to gain the support of a great faction of Chechen warlords.
The supreme mufti of Chechnya, Salah Mezhiev, has equated the Russian invasion in Ukraine with jihad in defence of Allah. He declared that Muslims had a “duty” to fight on the Russian side “for the Quran and for the Prophet.” The same day, Kadyrov himself said:
“Don’t try to hinder us. We won’t stop. We are under orders. We are on a jihad…. Those who die in this war will be martyrs, there is no doubt about that.”
On 25 February, a huge rally was held for pro-Russian fighters in Chechnya’s capital, Grozny. More than 70,000 Chechen volunteers were ready and willing to fight for Russian in Ukraine, Kadyrov said. Chanting the Islamic war cry Allahu akbar (Allah is the greatest), the Chechen jihadists prepared themselves for the fight against the Orthodox Christian people of Ukraine. It is the belief that by using experienced Islamic fighters, Moscow can avoid the fact that many Russian soldiers are reluctant to fight effectively against the Ukrainian people and their morale is flagging due to fierce Ukrainian resistance. The Russians hope that the Chechen jihadists, skilled in irregular warfare, will prove to be more resilient against the Ukrainian resistance, especially in the urban centres, drawing on their expertise from Syria. This is not the first time that Putin aligns himself with Islamists. In September
2015, Putin ordered his military to intervene on behalf of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was in the fifth year of waging a brutal civil war against domestic opposition and overseas recruits. By then, Moscow had already provided weapons to the Syrian state, which had become infamous for horrific human-rights violations. But the Russian military effort helped turn the war decisively in Assad’s direction. Last year, the group Airwars estimated that the Russian intervention had killed tens of thousands of civilians; the United Nations has accused Russia of war crimes. The intervention also offers clues to how Putin wants to wield military power abroad, as has been seen in the last several weeks in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
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Mario Alexis Portella is a priest of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Florence, Italy. He has a doctorate in canon law and civil law from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome; he also holds a M. A. in Medieval History from Fordham University, as well as a B.A. in
Government & Politics from St. John’s University. He is also author of Islam: Religion of Peace? – The Violation of Natural Rights and Western Cover-Up.
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Russian anti- missionary laws at work in Crimea- what Ukraine will experience under Russian occupation.
Introductory Comments:
While the world is justifiably alarmed and appalled at the recent invasion and military decimation of Ukraine and its people the plight of Ukrainian Christians have escaped attention for the moment. But just south of Ukraine, lies Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014 and where we can foresee the future of Religious freedom for believers in Ukraine. Heavy fines, intimidation, and facility shutdowns are just some of the persecution tactics introduced under the 2016 Anti-Evangelism Law. Christianity Today reports, "During the pandemic, Russia has continued its crackdown on evangelism and unregistered church activity—which includes almost all religious practice outside of the Russian Orthodox Church. The 2016 regulations restrict people in Russia from sharing about their faith or announcing church activities, even online or at home, unless permitted through a religious organization that has registered with the Russian government. Even then, evangelism is only sanctioned to occur within those designated churches.
And what was introduced in Crimea will certainly, under Russian rule, be implemented in Ukraine and any other Russian-occupied territory. Freedom of conscience; the right to worship according to the dictates of one's conscience uniquely defines the American nation from its inception. However, events unfolding over the past few years portend the dangers of paying lip service to these noble principles and failing to apply them to our lives. Ultimately, the danger lies in the blooming love affair between a huge section of a prominent American religious community and a popular political party. That unfortunate marriage has always spelled disaster to the Christian faith and Crimea is just another example. (RJG)
CRIMEA: 23 fines under Russia's "anti-missionary" laws in 2021
22 February 2022 Felix Corley, Forum 18 All 23 of the administrative prosecutions against individuals under Russia's "antimissionary" laws in 2021 in Russian-occupied Crimea led to convictions and fines. Assistant Prosecutor Olga Kushnerova brought the case against Imam Said Akhmad Asadov, fined five days' average local wages for leading prayers in a Simferopol District mosque raided by Russian FSB security service officers and Prosecutor's Office officials. "I won't give any comments by phone," she told Forum 18. "Everything I did was within the parameters of the law and the duties assigned to me under the law." She refused to discuss why an individual should be punished for leading worship in a religious community.
Prosecutors are known to have brought 23 cases against individuals under Russia's "antimissionary" laws in 2021 in Russian-occupied Crimea. All 22 individuals (one twice) were found guilty and fined. Most were fined about 5 days' average local wages each, though four received larger fines. Four were Imams targeted for leading meetings for worship in mosques outside the framework of the Russian-backed Crimean Muslim Board. Many of the fines followed raids on places of worship during meetings for worship.
(For a full list of known 2021 "missionary activity" prosecutions, see below.)
Magistrate's Courts handed down the fines under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity"). In one case, a non-Russian citizen is known to have been punished in Russian-occupied Crimea in 2021 under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 5 ("Foreigners conducting missionary activity").
On 24 May 2021, Russian FSB security service officers and Prosecutor's Office officials mounted a joint raid on a mosque in Crimea's central Simferopol District, which surrounds the regional capital. They found Said Akhmad Asanov leading prayers "without a document from the governing body of a religious organisation confirming his authority to conduct missionary activity in the name of the religious authority". A Judge fined him five days' average local wages the following month (see below).
Assistant Prosecutor Olga Kushnerova brought the case against Imam Asadov. "I won't give any comments by phone," she told Forum 18. "Everything I did was within the parameters of the law and the duties assigned to me under the law." She refused to discuss why an individual should be punished for leading worship in a religious community (see below).
Some communities have faced multiple fines. Four cases in early 2021 targeted members of House of the Potter Protestant Church in the port city of Sevastopol after prosecutors picked them out as home group leaders on a social media post by a church member. Church members had faced similar prosecutions in earlier years (see below).
In June 2021, a Judge fined Imam Yusuf Ashirov. During a raid on the independent Yukhary-Jami mosque in the southern Crimean town of Alushta, officials found him leading Friday prayers without permission from the Russian state-backed Crimean Muslim Board. Prosecutors in Alushta brought a similar case against him in 2020 (see below).
Such prosecutions under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 have continued in 2022 (see below).
Magistrate's Courts in Crimea are also known to have heard 10 cases in 2021 under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 3 against religious communities which failed to display their full official legal name on internet postings, on literature or outside the place where they meet for worship.
Russia's illegal March 2014 annexation of Crimea is not recognised by Ukraine or internationally.
Penalties for ill-defined "missionary" activity
The 23 Russian Administrative Code cases in Crimea in 2021 were all brought under wideranging and ill-defined "anti-missionary" Russian legal changes made in July 2016. The Russian authorities immediately imposed these punishments in Crimea, which they occupied in March 2014.
Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 punishes "Russians conducting missionary activity". This incurs a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 Roubles. For organisations (legal entities), the fine is 100,000 to 1 million Roubles. All religious communities which are not registered, and so have no legal status, must notify the authorities of their existence and provide the names and addresses of all their members, as well as addresses where any meetings take place. Their members are therefore subject to prosecution as individuals.
Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 5 punishes "Foreigners conducting missionary activity". This incurs a fine of 30,000 to 50,000 Roubles with the possibility of deportation.
Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 3 punishes the "Implementation of activities by a religious organisation without indicating its official full name, including the issuing or distribution, within the framework of missionary activity, of literature and printed, audio, and video material without a label bearing this name, or with an incomplete or deliberately false label". This incurs a fine of 30,000 to 50,000 Roubles and the confiscation of any literature or other material.
Russia's Administrative Code specifies that cases under Article 5.26 can be brought by the police, Prosecutor's Offices, or local Justice Departments.
In addition to the 23 prosecutions under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activities") and Part 5 ("Foreigners conducting missionary activity"), the Russian authorities brought prosecutions against religious communities in occupied Crimea in 2021 for failing to display their full official legal name on places of worship, literature and internet posts.
In its latest report, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine pointed to the many fines handed down in Crimea under Russian Administrative Code
Article 5.26. Its report "Civic Space and Fundamental Freedoms in Ukraine", published on
8 December 2021, noted that "the application of anti-extremist laws of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the 'Yarovaya package', [..] significantly limited the ability of various religious groups to conduct religious practices together by banning broadly defined 'missionary activities'."
Prosecutions have also been brought in Crimea to punish exercise of freedom of religion or belief in public under Russian Administrative Code Article 20.2 ("Violation of the established procedure for organising or conducting a gathering, meeting, demonstration, procession or picket"), which is linked to Russia's Demonstrations Law.
On 29 April 2020, Sovetsky District Court in eastern Crimea found Imam Dilyaver Khalilov guilty under Russian Administrative Code Article 20.2, Part 2 for leading prayers in a mosque they had used since 2004 which has now been forcibly closed and seized. When Forum 18 asked how the Muslim community should worship now the authorities have seized their place of worship, Emil Velilyayev, deputy head of Sovetsky District, responded: "There is no community there." The Judge fined Imam Khalilov 30,000 Russian Roubles (about one month's average wages for those in work). Prosecutors had initially brought the case under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activities").
Human rights defender Aleksandr Sedov of the Crimean Human Rights Group stated in
2017 that the punishments violate the rights to freedom of religion or belief enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. He also pointed out that they break Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, which enshrines the rights of civilians in occupied territories.
Police Centres for Countering Extremism, Prosecutors, FSB
Many of the cases in Crimea under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4
("Russians conducting missionary activity") begin with "inspections" of religious communities, which involve looking at documents relating to a community's registration (if it is registered as a religious organisation, or has notified the Justice Ministry of its existence as a religious group), its place of worship, and its leader.
Particularly in the cases of mosques and their imams, inspections sometimes take the form of raids by armed officers of the police, OMON riot police or FSB security service on communities meeting for worship.
Police Centres for Countering Extremism, Prosecutors and Russia's FSB security service often initiate such inspections and raids.
Prosecutions follow Russian FSB security service raids
On the evening of 6 February 2021, the Russian FSB security service raided a small Protestant community in the eastern Crimean town of Kerch. It claimed to be conducting an inspection of observance of Russia's Religion Law. At the meeting for worship, church leaders "told those gathered about faith, about god [sic], about hope for another life, read the Bible and sang songs".
The FSB security service then handed its findings to Kerch Prosecutor's Office. On 16 February 2021, Assistant Prosecutor Mikhail Polyukhovich prepared a case against church member I. Denisov under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity").
At the hearing on 12 March 2021 at Kerch Magistrate's Court No. 47, Assistant Prosecutor Polyukhovich called for Denisov to be fined 25,000 Russian Roubles. Two women – who were not members of the church - testified that he had handed them leaflets about the service earlier in the day.
Judge Irina Sergiyenko found Denisov guilty of sharing faith with people who were not church members, according to the decision seen by Forum 18. However, she did not meet Polyukhovich's demand for a high fine, instead fining him 8,000 Russian Roubles.
Forum 18 was unable to reach Assistant Prosecutor Polyukhovich. Telephones at Kerch Prosecutor's Office went unanswered each time Forum 18 called on 22 February.
In late 2020, Assistant Prosecutor Polyukhovich brought a similar administrative case of conducting "missionary" activity under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 against S. Alekseyev. Kerch Magistrate's Court No. 48 fined him 5,000 Russian Roubles on 3 November 2020.
On 24 May 2021, Russian FSB security service officers and Prosecutor's Office officials mounted a joint raid on a mosque in Crimea's central Simferopol District, which surrounds the regional capital. They found Said Akhmad Asanov leading prayers "without a document from the governing body of a religious organisation confirming his authority to conduct missionary activity in the name of the religious authority".
Asanov's "missionary activity" consisted of "conducting services (namaz) and inviting to participate in the activity of the Muslim community an unknown circle of people who were not members (followers) of the given religious community". The Imam told the FSB and Prosecutor's Office officials that he had led prayers daily in the mosque since 12 April 2021.
Assistant Prosecutor Olga Kushnerova of Simferopol District Prosecutor's Office prepared a case against Asadov under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity").
On 29 June 2021, Judge Tatyana Protsenko of Simferopol District Magistrate's Court No. 75 found Asanov guilty and fined him 5,000 Russian Roubles, according to the decision seen by Forum 18.
Assistant Prosecutor Kushnerova – who now works for Simferopol's Railway District
Prosecutor's Office – refused to comment in detail on the case she brought against
Imam Asadov. "I won't give any comments by phone," she told Forum 18 from Simferopol on 22 February 2022. "Everything I did was within the parameters of the law and the duties assigned to me under the law." She refused to discuss why an individual should be punished for leading worship in a religious community.
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