To the President of the Russian Federation

Dmitry Medvedev

To the Russian Prime Minister

Vladimir Putin

To the mayor of Moscow

Sergei Sobyanin

Open letter of the Russian Mufties Council

Moscow, December 14, 2010.

On the regular general meeting the Russian Mufties Council considered the issues relating to the provision of land for the construction of mosques in Moscow.

The members of the Russian Mufti Council, representing the largest centralized Muslim organizations in the country, expressed serious concern that the provision of land to Muslim religious organizations for construction of mosques in Moscow faced serious obstacles due to the activities of certain informal social organizations, urging residents to oppose the construction of mosques in the capital of multi-religious and multi-national Russia.

These calls, inciting religious and national hostility, receive wide publicity in the media, and this is a source of pressure on the state and municipal authorities which are responsible for ensuring social order, interfaith and interethnic harmony.

The Russian Mufties Council declares that such actions that impedes the realization of the constitutional rights of Muslims to practice their religion, may negatively affect the state-confessional relations in our country and become a signal to the groundless decisions that prevent the allocation of land for construction of mosques in other parts of the Russian Federation.

Moscow has always been an example of compliance with fair principles of equality of religions and nationalities. We hope that in future public policy in these areas will be strictly enforced, which will help to save the interfaith and interethnic accord in the Russian society.

The Russian Mufties Council turns to the leadership of our state and the city of Moscow with a request to provide the necessary amount of land for the construction of mosques in Moscow.

Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin

The Chairman of the Russian Mufties Council

The Chairman of the Religious Board of Muslims of the

European part of Russia

The co-chairmen of the Russian Mufties Council:

Mufti Nafigulla Ashirov

The Chairman of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Asian part of Russia

Mufti Gusman Iskhakov

The Chairman of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan

Mufti Nurmuhammad Nigmatullin

The Chairman of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Republic of Bashkortostan

Mufti Mukaddas Bibarsov

The Chairman of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Povolzh’e

Members of the Russian Mufties Council