Ravil Gaynutdin, head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, said that 23 million Muslims currently live in Russia, a country with a total population of approximately 144 million, Interfax news agency reported Thursday.
“They are indigenous residents of our country, they are not migrants or immigrants and have been living here from time immemorial,” Gaynutdin said.
He also said that “the number of people professing Islam in Russia is constantly growing”.
“Our Muslims do not have problems with adapting themselves to the European community, of the kind that unfortunately our Muslim brothers from the Arab world face when they come to western countries,” he added.
Gaynutdin also denounced terror acts “propagated under the name of Islam.”
“The killing of innocent people cannot help achieve goals, this can only increase Islamophobia.”
According to poll results, 5% of the adult citizens in Russia (about 7 million people) are Muslims.
A 2002 census showed that the total strength of all nationalities confessing Islam is 14,5 million, Interfax reported.