Russia: Reaching Out to the South, Michel Cousins

Opinion, October 2003, www.aljazeerah.info

Russia: Reaching Out to the South

Michel Cousins

Arab News

JEDDAH, 21 October 2003 — Most of the focus on this week’s Islamic Summit in Malaysia was on Iraq, on Israel’s continuing attacks on the Palestinians and what Malaysian prime minister supposedly said about Jews. Few people will have noticed, or even been aware, that one of the main speakers at the conference was Russian President Vladimir Putin. That must have come as something of a surprise given that membership of the OIC is limited by its charter to Muslims states. Since when has Russia been a Muslim state? Perhaps the Russians converted en masse without anyone noticing? Or have the OIC’s membership rules changed?

Nothing has changed. What happened was that Russia was invited as an “official guest”. But that is something of a surprise in itself, given Moscow’s actions in Chechnya and its historic hostility to Islam.

The official reason for the Russian invitation is that it has a significant Muslim population, estimated at around 23 million. That is about 15 percent of the total Russian population, double the 7 percent in France but not far off the 12.5 percent in India.

So why no invitation to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee? After all, 12.5 percent of India’s population adds up to 125 million people, making it the second largest Muslim community in the world. Indeed, India did try to send observers to the first Islamic summit in Rabat in 1969, but they were refused entry. Yet Thailand, with Muslims making up just four percent of the population, has been given observer status. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to who has the welcome mat put out for them. The explanation that India’s cold-shoulder treatment is because of Kashmir, its fraught relations with Pakistan, and possible concerns about the status of Muslims in the country ought to be convincing; but Russia has hardly been seen as a great friend to Muslims. Its actions in Chechnya have also provoked a great deal of distress and anger in the Muslim world. Yet in spite of that, President Putin was warmly welcomed to the summit.

The fact is that Russia actively lobbied for at least an invitation. It was no bolt out of the blue. Over the past year, engagement and dialogue with Muslim states and organizations has become a significant plank of Russian foreign policy, although long before that, President Putin had spoken on various occasions about the need to expand relations with Muslims states. The policy shift has resulted in invitations to a host of leading Muslim politicians and figures. In January, Abdelouahed Belkeziz, the OIC secretary-general, was in Moscow as a guest of Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. At the time, the Russian Foreign Ministry spoke eagerly about expanding its collaboration with the OIC “in the interests of maintaining peace and security in the world.” That was reportedly followed by discussions between President Putin and Malaysia’s leaders, both Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Bhas, not just about an invitation to the summit but on the possibility of Russia being given permanent observer status (having hosted the summit, Malaysia now takes over as chairman of the organization). Most recently, Putin gave Crown Prince Abdullah a visibly enthusiastic welcome in the Russian capital.

Making this dialogue possible — Chechnya notwithstanding — has been a convergence of views on the Middle East, not least joint opposition to the Iraq war, Russia’s active support for Crown Prince Abdullah’s proposals for a Middle East peace as the only basis to move forward, Moscow’s backing for an OIC role in the Quartet responsible for the presently-stalled Middle East road map, and a joint desire for wider regional stability. The latter was recently pointed out by the Russian ambassador in Riyadh, Andrey Baklanov. “We are neighbors of the Middle East. We live in the same strategic area. We have to have certain levels of cooperation, and that can include technical and economic cooperation.”

Inevitably, however, Chechnya and Russia’s own war against terrorism has been the ghost at the feast of the Russian-Muslim relations. Moscow’s hope of changing views about the Chechen issue is a major element in its outreach to the Muslim world. It has paid dividends. Akhmad Kadyrov, the former separatist Mufti of Chechnya who once called for a jihad against Russia but who is now firmly pro-Russian and who has been elected president of Chechnya, was prominent among Putin’s large delegation at the Islamic summit. The warm welcome he received there and then on Sunday the presence of representatives from several Muslim countries at his swearing-in ceremony in Gudermes have to be seen as a gestures of support for Moscow in its battle against the separatists. Kadyrov, who has now called on separatist leader Aslan Mashkadov for talks, claims he was invited to visit Saudi Arabia following his meeting with Crown Prince Abdullah during the latter’s Moscow trip.

Putin’s speech will have gone down well at the summit. He rejected attempts to equate Islam with terrorism, said that religion was being manipulated by people with their own political agenda, which had nothing to do with Islam or human rights, and downplayed the reportedly anti-Jewish tone of his host’s speech. In general he said all the right words - that the millions of Muslims in Russia are “an integral part of the Russian people”, “an asset”, a part of Russia’s “wealth”.

But whether these and his declared conviction that “attempts to provoke Islamophobia in Russia have failed utterly” will have convinced Muslim leaders that Russia’s historic deep-seated hostility to Islam has finally been exorcised remains to be seen. Although a new relationship between Moscow and the Muslim world is clearly being consummated, no decision has as yet been made to grant Russia the permanent OIC observer status it would like.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).