On April 3, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, spoke on his telegram channel about rallies against the construction of a mosque near the Holy Lake in the Kosino-Ukhtomsky district of Moscow. On April 5, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced the transfer of construction to another location.
Rumors about the construction of a large Muslim center for 60 thousand people with a mosque, madrasah, hotel and outbuildings near the Holy Lake, where Epiphany bathing and crusades are traditionally held, appeared back in February and caused heated protest among some local residents. They sent requests to the authorities and began holding weekly gatherings, protest prayers and collecting signatures against the mosque. They shouted that they would not allow the holy place to be “desecrated.”
And although local authorities responded that no plans related to the construction of churches in this area had been approved, and that the construction site near the lake was the future Kosino transport hub, the rallies did not stop. Moreover, local activists were joined by nationalists from other areas of Moscow.
On April 3, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, in his telegram channel, recalled in this regard that “Russia is a multinational country.” “If all these rally participants came out with all their hearts and souls with the idea of defending Russian land, then go ahead into the trenches with a machine gun! It’s impossible to take in the vast expanses of Russian land on the front line, which need to be defended every day. Take a machine gun, push aside with your shoulder the Muslim who is fighting instead of you today in the Russian Donbass, and show your patriotism,” he wrote.
He called what was happening in Moscow a provocation and suggested either mobilizing the instigators “to throw out all their anger on the enemy, or to put them on trial as information saboteurs acting to please the Satanists.”
The conflict situation, under the obvious onslaught of nationalist reaction, was “resolved” by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. On April 5, he reported that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation Ravil Gainutdin addressed him. Both offered to find another place for construction.
“The construction proposal itself was considered only in a preliminary manner by the Town Planning and Land Commission. There was no decision of the Moscow government, no orders from the relevant executive authorities on this issue,” Sobyanin wrote and immediately refuted himself, saying that “taking into account these requests, the location of the future mosque will be changed.” In addition, he said that the area of the mosque will not be 40 thousand square meters. m, as reported in rumors: “We are talking about a very modest object of 2.5 thousand square meters. m".
A plot of land will be allocated for the construction of the temple within walking distance from the Kosino metro station and the MCD.
In response, Ramzan Kadyrov expressed gratitude to “dear BROTHER Sergei Semenovich” and stated that “he is a sensitive politician and economic mayor who found a wonderful solution that suits everyone.”