Russia’s cooperation with the leaders of the Muslim world will be short-lived according to Geidar Dzhemal, Chair of the Islamic Committee of Russia

Oleg Khrabry

The recent Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIC) summit in Malaysia was a major event in Russian diplomacy, as it was the first time Russia’s president participated in the history of the OIC. The stated dente between Russia and Muslim countries seems both a protocol formality and a radical change in foreign policy. Without a doubt, the fact that the Muslim establishment welcomed with open arms a leader conducting a war against separatists using Islam as part of their ideology also indicates a change in their position.
“What are the motives on the various sides?” Expert asked the Chair of the Islamic Committee of Russia, Geidar Dzhemal.
- Russia has been trying to enter the OIC since 1992. Back during Yeltsin’s administration a project in accordance with its by-laws was put together, but they talked the president out of it. Four years later, in 1997, Duma deputy Nadir Khachilaev sounded out the conditions for Russian participation in the OIC. He went to Islamabad to an OIC summit as an observer. Nothing came of that, either.
Today a completely different situation has emerged. Participation in the OIC is very important for Putin. He has to emphasize his independence from US policy and demonstrate that letting the Americans into Central Asia was not the Russia’s final strategic decision. Moreover, with less than a year to go before the next presidential elections, Putin is trying to improve his image, or in other words, add some new shades to it and show himself to be a strong politician capable of tough moves. By joining the OIC he will be renewing his relationship with broad groups of everyday voters with anti-American sentiments. In Russia his participation in the summit was greeted very positively, if you don’t count marginal organizations like the Union of Orthodox Citizens.
In terms of the OIC itself, the reason why Muslim countries would want Russia to join in its current weak position is not as clear. Do they want to buy arms and technology from us? You don’t need to be a member of the OIC to trade arms successfully. Rosoboroneksport understands its business perfectly without belonging to the Islamic Conference. At the same time, if the OIC accepts Russia into its ranks, it will have to swallow the war in Chechnya, the fictitious and unopposed election of Kadyrov, reduced rights for Muslims in the Northern Caucasus, the Fatima police operations (increasing checks on “individuals of Causasian nationality”), and many other issues. This means that the Muslim establishment will come into opposition with the mood of the “masses,” the so-called Muslim on the street who has become increasingly influential recently.
The Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir Mohammad, is also pursuing his own goals. Mahathir, as an experienced politician, would not make a statement without calculating the possible consequences. What he said at the summit was the agenda for the whole event. It was an axis that the entire OIC is consolidating and mobilizing around. It is the organization’s legitimacy from the point of the view of the “street,” and proof that the summit wasn’t a collection of jerks who sold their souls, but of leaders ready to fight their enemy. Excerpts from his speech became front-page news in the major papers of sixty countries. That’s a third of all states that belong to the UN.
- Those at the summit expressed their “concern for Islam’s image.” What did they mean by a worsening image, the connections with terrorism, the spread of Wahhabism?
- In Muslim countries and especially at the OIC summit, no one uses words like terrorism or Wahhabism. Terrorism is seen as a product of the activities of Western secret services. Wahhabism is seen as a boogeyman for Russian domestic consumption. In the Islamic world, Wahhabism is one of many schools of religious and political thought. Some Shiites, for instance, have a more or less negative attitude toward it, but these are internal issues without any kind of negative connotation.
At the summit, most people were talking about how the Islamic world lags technologically behind the West and even China, which is becoming a superpower thanks to hi-tech breakthroughs. It’s embarrassing, because there is immense intellectual potential in the Muslim world which would allow it to achieve even more impressive results. This world not only has multitude of different people united by a shared religious civilizing project, but also has huge financial resources. Thousands of Muslim scientists are working in US and European labs. It is completely unacceptable that such a powerful civilization is stuck in technological stagnation.
- Still, why did the Muslim countries swallow the elections in Chechnya so easily?
- Because no one believes in the long-term viability of “Chechen regulation.” Many believe that to speak against the conflict as a defender of human rights would be tilting with windmills. In that sense, the leaders of the Islamic world are taking a pragmatic approach. They all understand that first of all, the war in Chechnya will continue. Secondly, they know the EU doesn’t recognize the election of Kadyrov. Thirdly, they know he’s doomed. Muslim countries are confident that Russia will be forced to find other solutions to the problem.
- But isn’t the rise of Wahhabism a problem for the leaders of Muslim countries themselves?
- To a certain extent, yes. But Mahathir himself, were he to end up in the Northern Caucasus, would have been caught in the cleanup operations. Politicians like him were in the majority at the summit. No Muslim, even if he has strong connections to the European establishment and believes in Western liberal values, can disassociate himself from the problems of his social group thanks to the solidarity between true Muslim believers. If he does, he will have at the very least a very strong sense of guilt.
- Are there any economic underpinnings to today’s détente between Saudi Arabia and Russia? Or is this simply a tactical diplomatic game?
- America’s operations in the Middle East are pushing the Saudis toward Russia. They have understood that the US has written them off as partners. The EU has a more complicated political structure and it isn’t clear who they need to talk to. The Saudis of course are working with the EU.
But the EU is too amorphous. There is no political will there. There is only a general opposition to American aggression and the understanding that something should be done about it. But there is no united center for making decisions. The EU is quasi-virtual. Russia, for all its infrastructural weakness, is a paternalistic government and for that reason alone it’s easier to decide concrete political issues with Russia. The “special” relationships of Muslim countries with France and Germany aren’t leading to any of the anticipated quick results. Russia, as an atomic power, is still undefined, an “X factor” for the leaders of Muslim countries.
- Who stands to benefit tactically from the evolving partnership between Russia and the OIC? What could this détente turn into eventually?
- If we look at the situation in relation to the US, the OIC will win tactically. First of all, it is demonstrating solidarity. Secondly, it is clearly developing its ideological goals in the battle for power and influence in the world. Thirdly, it is showing it has the ability to get the leader of a major state with atomic weapons on its side. These are all trump cards it can use against the US.
Putin, by getting closer to the OIC, has personally weakened his position among the Russia elite. I think this is not time for relations between Russia and the Islamic Conference to develop. The most that will be accomplished is to get Russia accepted as an observer in the OIC. However, while all the bureaucratic procedures are underway, everything will change on the political scene. The US will soon begin to make certain movements toward Syria and Iran. The first serious steps in that direction will throw the OIC in to confusion and Putin’s determination will bring him closer to Muslim countries. I think that this will lead to a division within the OIC itself. Some countries will take a radical position while others will cave into the Americans.
Russia, I think, will follow the same vague, toothless, pro-Western political line it has all along.

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