Vladimir Putin intends to support Russian Islam

The Chairman of the Russian Government Vladimir Putin said the authority in Russia would always support Islam, communicating with the citizens of Russia during his tenth “straight line”.

The question concerning the attitude of the Prime-Minister to the inter-religious situation in the country was raised by the citizen of Bashkiria Rustam Taimasov from the movable TV-studio in Ufa. In autumn 2011 the Supreme Court of Russia has made the decision concerning abolition of the days off, falling on the main Muslim holidays Uraza-Bayram and Kurgan-Bayram, and the Muslim population of our Republic was dissatisfied with this step.

“Islam was always one of the pillars of the Russian state structure” -Vladimir Putin said - “It is clear that the authority in Russia will always support traditional Islam. I think that the prohibition, made by the Russian Supreme Court, can be explained by striving for the fact that the country should have the all-national holidays and not the holidays, approved by some regions separately and with their own days off”.

In opinion of Vladimir Putin Uraza-Bayram is a good Muslim holiday but as for Kurban-Bayram, Vladimir Putin urged all Muslims and especially the Muslims, living in the non-Islamic regions, to avoid making traditional Muslim sacrifices publicly. “You mustn't shock other citizens, which have no idea what does it mean” - he said - “You should be tolerant and understand the cultural environment you live in”.

Talking about Bashkortostan Vladimir Putin said that Ufa was always the center of Russian Islam.