The Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation certainly supports the thesis of the secular nature of the Russian state and the religious neutrality of general education schools in Russia as a condition for preserving the unity of the civil nation.

We insist that wearing clothes determined by religious norms in no way interferes with the secular character and religious neutrality of the school. Our country is historically multi-ethnic and multi-religious. It is absurd to think that modern Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists in Russia will ‘take off’ their religious identity, which has a thousand-year history behind it, and turn into agnostics or atheists for the duration of their stay in an educational institution. Even more ludicrous is the situation that teachers should remove from pupils their crosses, kippahs, scarves and other private attributes of religious affiliation.

A little less than a year ago, the Department of Education and Youth Policy of the Vladimir City Administration and the Vladimir Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church signed a co-operation agreement, under which diocesan clergy actively visit schools to give talks to students on spiritual and moral topics. It is awkward to even think that during the next such visit the leadership of the Vladimir Department of Education and Youth Policy will ask Metropolitan Tikhon of Vladimir and Suzdal to take off his cross and vestments.

In this case, I think it is appropriate to advise the Vladimir region's education officials to carefully read the text of the Russian Constitution, which states in black and white the commitment of Russians to faith in God, as well as to familiarise themselves with the ‘Fundamentals of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values’, approved by Presidential Decree No. 809 of 9 November 2022.

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