The 27th Summer Universiade is being held in Russia from 6th to 17th of July 2013. According to the organisers, Kazan has become the capital city of world student and youth sporting contests. This Universiade will be the greatest in the history of such events. Athletes from more than 170 countries will compete for more than 350 sets of medals in 27 sports.

Comment:

For the first time the Russian government has decided to hold such a major international event in the Volga region, that densely populated with 40% of all Muslims of Russian Federation. Totally there are seven republics with dominating Muslim population in Russia, two of them, such as Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, are in the Volga region. 4.5 million of Tatars and 1.5 million of Bashkirs live in these lands.

According to recent analyzes provided by Russian experts the Volga region is assessed as not trustworthy in terms of loyalty to the Russian authoritarian system. The reason for this according to those same experts is the revival of Islam among the Tatars and Bashkirs.

In this regard, the preparation and holding of the World Universiade are connected with providing tight security by the Russian government and its security forces. Numerous officials of Ministry of Internal Affairs, Federal Security Service and the Russian Ministry of Defense are concentrated in Tatarstan. Against the background of this international event, the fruits of anti-Islamic policy of the Russian authorities, expressed in discrediting and humiliation of Islam and Muslims, are becoming apparent more and more. The security forces’ officials visit the houses of Muslim activists, conduct searches, seize the Islamic attributes such as flags of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) from the cars belonging to the Muslims, and then subject them to administrative arrests.

Thus, an attempt to remove from the streets of Kazan any manifestations of Islam is made. The Russian authorities do not hide now their plans to oust Islam from public life of the country.

The need for a political term “Wahhabism”, which should cover all those Muslims in whose loyalty the Russian authorities doubt, is imposed on the society openly. Government agencies controlling the religious life of Muslims propose to create intolerable conditions of life for the Muslims, who will be on the lists of “Wahhabists”. On the 22nd of June, the Russian government made tightening in the legislation directed against the unofficial Muslim movements, increasing prison sentences for the organization and activities in the Islamic political party “Hizb ut-Tahrir” and other Islamic Jamaats. On the 1st of July the law banning Muslim activists convicted for having a religious position contrary to the position of the Russian authorities to establish and participate in public and religious organizations was amended. The Minister of Justice said that the main purpose of the bill is aimed at stopping the activities of banned Islamic organizations.