Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin, Chairman of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation and the Russia Muftis Council, met with Mr Goksel Aşan, Head of the Finance Office of the Presidency of Türkiye, and Oleg Ganeev, Senior Vice President of Sberbank, at the Moscow Cathedral Mosque. The meeting was attended by his deputies Damir Mukhetdinov and Rushan Abbyasov, and Omer Faruk Saruvan, Counsellor for Religious Affairs of the Turkish Embassy in the Russian Federation.

During the conversation, the head oft he RMC spoke about the history of Islam in Russia and the celebrations in honour of the 1100th anniversary of the official adoption of Islam by the people of Volga Bulgaria. The Mufti also noted that the Moscow Cathedral Mosque is a place of worship to the Almighty, an Islamic symbol and an architectural landmark of the capital, as well as a place for receiving high delegations from Muslim countries and exercising religious diplomacy. In this context, the leader of Russian Muslims spoke about the history of the mosque, the reconstruction period, and the opening ceremony of the renovated mosque complex held in 2015 with the participation of the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Palestine.

The main topic of the meeting was the development of Islamic banking in Russia. Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin noted that there is a great demand for halal products, including financial products. He emphasised that the financial and legal systems were responding to this demand, which can be seen from recently adopted laws on Islamic banking and the launch of relevant pilot projects in a number of Russian regions.

Mr. Goksel Ashan spoke about Turkiye's interest in the implementation of joint projects related to the development of halal financial institutions in Russia, cooperation with the RMC and Russian banks, and implementation of educational programmes in the field of Islamic banking.