On June 29, 2005, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted a scientific conference "Russia, the CIS, the Muslim World and Problems of Terrorism", organized by the Department of Complex Problems of International Relations of the Institute.

The conference was attended by researchers, diplomats and teachers of higher educational institutions.

The conference discussed a wide range of topical issues related to the policy of Russia and other CIS countries in Asia and Africa, political, economic and other processes taking place in the Muslim world, as well as the tasks of the fight against international terrorism.

Opening the conference, A. M. Khazanov (Institute of Islamic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences), in particular, said: "The purpose of our conference is to discuss a complex set of interrelated problems, including Russia's policy in the regions of the traditional spread of Islam, the policy of Muslim states, successes and defeats in the fight against international terrorism. It is intended to discuss four interrelated levels of relations: the center's relations with internal Russian Islamic regions, policy towards the near Islamic abroad (former Soviet republics), policy towards the far Islamic abroad, and policy towards international terrorism. When developing Russian foreign policy, it is necessary to take into account the mutual influence of forces at all four levels on each other, as well as the processes taking place in the internal Russian Islamic regions, in the near and far Islamic abroad. I see the task of our conference as a comprehensive analysis of all these processes and the influence of the Islamic factor on Russia's relations with the Muslim world."

V. I. Gusarov (Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in his report "The role of Eastern countries in the formation of the North Caucasus syndrome in the 1990s-early 2000s" analyzed two monographs by Colonel-General G. N. Troshev, who until 2003 was the commander of the North Caucasus Military District ("My War". 2001 and "Chechen recidivism", Moscow, 2003). According to V. I. Gusarov, these books differ from other publications in their objectivity and reliability, are built on the basis of primary sources, original source documents, and are, in fact, a two-volume encyclopedia of the history of the recent North Caucasus conflict. Of course, the two-volume book contains the author's vision of the events and phenomena described.

V. I. Gusarov elaborated on the role of those Eastern countries in fueling the conflict in the North Caucasus, whose representatives somehow participated or are participating in it. The primary reason for this participation is the financing of illegal armed groups by the Saudi organizations Hayat ul-Igasa and the Islamic Congress, the Afghan Taliban movement, and others.

According to V. I. Gusarov, another form of participation of external forces in the formation of the North Caucasus syndrome was direct participation in illegal armed groups and military operations against federal troops of mercenaries-citizens of many foreign countries, primarily eastern ones. Knowing about the criminal liability for mercenary activities prescribed in international and Russian legislation, Islamist mercenaries often hide behind slogans about "world jihad", assistance to the "Muslim brotherhood" fighting for "independence of Ichkeria" , etc. According to V. I. Gusarov, many states were not able to control their public, religious, financial and other organizations that deliberately took the path of violating international and Russian legislation and supporting international terrorism.

V. A. Ushakov (Institute of Internal Affairs of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in the report "Iran: Support for terror or fight against it?" I made an attempt to find out the true (and not official) attitude of Tehran to international terrorism. Based on the analysis of a wide range of sources, V. A. Ushakov came to the conclusion that since the late 1970s, Iran has been the center of terrorism directed against many countries in Europe, America and Asia. Already in the early 1980s, Khomeini put forward the concept of "export

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Islamic Revolution" first to the Gulf countries, and then further. In the 1980s, under the auspices of Khomeini, terrorists intensified their activities in France and several other Western countries, as well as in Lebanon, where Hezbollah bombed the US Embassy in Beirut in April 1982. In 1992-1994, the Israeli Embassy and the Israeli Cultural Center in Buenos Aires were bombed with the help of Iranian terrorists. According to Ushakov, Osama bin Laden, who visited Tehran at least three times, maintains close ties with influential people in Tehran.

V. P. Pankratiev (IB RAS) in the report "Palestine: the Struggle for Freedom or Terror against violence?" He noted that Palestinians who resort to terrorist attacks as a means to achieve their goal, as a rule, use the tactics of self-sacrifice. According to the speaker, the escalation of suicide tactics observed in the fight against a stronger opponent cannot be considered completely irrational. Terrorist groups act quite rationally from the point of view of their logic, since their regular sabotage achieves important political goals. Their self-sacrifice has become part of the public consciousness, deeply rooted in the belief in the usefulness and success of their conscious choice. Strategically, terrorism aims to force a stronger opponent to make almost fundamental political changes.

According to Pankratyev, terrorism has brought the Palestinians not only a bad name, but also certain political victories. The UN General Assembly has recognized the inalienable political rights of the Palestinian people. Israel's unwillingness to bear material losses forced the Israeli leadership, led by the Labor Party, to retreat from terrorism. It is difficult to give an exhaustive description of terrorism, because there is a persistent gap between the goals, interests and results achieved by terrorist groups. What is clear is that terrorism is a product of a conflict of interest between weak and strong opponents. Losing in an open confrontation, the former resorts to unconventional methods of fighting in an "invisible war" against the latter. However, from the point of view of common sense, the speaker believes that terrorism is an irrational policy if we consider the problem in the long term. Terrorism aims to create fear, so that it, in turn, contributes to the achievement of what the terrorist wants. At the same time, a terrorist always causes an undesirable reaction. Instead of forcing an opponent to make political concessions, they make their demands illegal, provoke growing resistance, and strengthen their resolve to punish terrorists. The struggle between Israel and the Palestinians clearly illustrates this.

Sergey Chernyavsky (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation) in his report "Geopolitical changes in Central Asia: Conclusions for Russia" expressed the opinion that the internal political tension in Central Asia (CA) is caused not only by internal, but also by external factors. He attributed the monopolization of power by a narrow circle of individuals and its family-clan nature to internal factors. According to the speaker, there was an increase in discontent among the political elite, which lost the ability to influence state decisions, as well as the business elite, which faced the threat of seizure of their enterprises by the dominant oligarchic clans. Among the external factors, S. I. Chernyavsky names the interest of the largest TNCs in developing local raw material resources and direct interference in the affairs of the region by the United States, the European Union, China and Turkey. The direct presence of Americans in the region plays not only a military, but also an ideological role. With the beginning of the operation in Afghanistan and the establishment of American bases in Central Asia, the information impact on the population of the region increased. Thus, Radio Liberty (Free Europe) has significantly increased its broadcasting volume in Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen and Uzbek languages, as well as in Farsi.

According to S. I. Chernyavsky, serious geopolitical changes in Central Asia and a significant weakening of Russia's position in the region urgently require a serious adjustment of the foreign policy course pursued by the Russian Federation and the introduction of new elements in it. In this regard, the rapporteur made a number of recommendations.

A. M. Khazanov in his report "The Third World War: the battlefield - the whole world" expressed the opinion that the war against international terrorism can be considered a "third world war". The First World War, as the speaker noted, can be called trench warfare. The Second World War, although it covered vast territories, still had clearly limited boundaries of the battlefield. New ones-

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The current war on international terrorism has the peculiarity that it has neither front nor rear, and the entire world is the battlefield.

A. M. Khazanov offered his own concept for discussion to the conference participants, which, in his opinion, explains why the politicization of Islam and its active intrusion into world politics began only in the 70s of the last century. A. M. Khazanov believes that before that, the social protest of the masses in Muslim countries found its way out through two valves: secular nationalism (the struggle for the liberation of the colonies) and socialist ideas. By the 1970s, the colonies were liberated, and Marxism and its ideological offshoots were compromised. In these circumstances, the social protest of the masses in the Muslim world found a new outlet - political Islam. An active invasion of Islam into world politics has begun.

In his report "The situation of Muslims in some regions of the North Caucasus", D. Nechitailo (IB RAS) analyzed the relations between the authorities and Muslim organizations in North Ossetia-Alania, Kabardino-Balkaria and Ingushetia. According to him, after Beslan, North Ossetia began to persecute Muslims, who make up about 30% of the population in the republic. They persecute those Islamic organizations that are not subject to regulation by the republican authorities.

In Kabardino-Balkaria, powerful anti-Wahhabist propaganda organized by the republican authorities through the mass media has formed an extremely negative attitude among the majority of the population towards young Muslims, who now make up the majority of the congregation in mosques, pray at the proper time, and wear beards. They gradually find themselves in social isolation. When faced with anti-Wahhabist propaganda, they get grounds for political opposition to the Russian authorities in the face of republican administrative bodies. For the authorities in the Caucasus regions, any departure from the traditional clergy automatically means belonging to"Wahhabism".

Unlike in Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia, in Ingushetia, the government is pursuing a more balanced policy towards the Islamic opposition. It relies on the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Ingushetia (DUMI). According to D. Nechitailo, Ingushetia has some peculiarities. There is a more traditional society here, and the influence of the older generation is stronger. Relatives of young people who have become followers of the "Wahhabist" ideology do not want their teip to be disgraced, and independently bring them to the Spiritual Administration for explanatory work. It is also impossible to ignore the strong influence of the Naqshbandi and Qadiriya Sufi brotherhoods in Ingushetia.

D. Nechitailo came to the conclusion that an alternative to the radical Islamist movement is gradually being formed in the North Caucasus. A stratum of young educated Islamic intellectuals is being formed, who analyze the experience of radical activity accumulated in the 1990s. They are looking for opportunities for legal educational, social, and long-term political activities within the existing secular state.

F. R. Ramazanova (IB RAS) in her report "The State and Islam in Dagestan" made an attempt to identify the causes of the current dramatic religious and political situation in Dagestan. According to her, the ethnic diversity of this mountainous region is one of the highest in the world. The entire history of Dagestan represents the struggle of peoples to prevent the total domination of another people over themselves. But the most remarkable fact is that the Islamic space of Dagestan, unlike other republics of the North Caucasus, has never been homogeneous. In the religious culture of Dagestan, three types of religious perception have steadily dominated over the past centuries: Sufism (a mystical and ascetic teaching in Islam that calls for humility and withdrawal from worldly vanity), the schools of Shafi'i lawyers, and salafiyya (fundamentalism). Sufism still holds the strongest positions in Dagestan.

There are elements of uncertainty in the relationship between the State and Sufi (Tariqa) Islam, which is officially recognized. The authorities officially recognize the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Dagestan (DUMD) and cooperate with it, but at the same time maintain good relations with opposition religious leaders. That is why in Dagestan, unlike in other regions, it was not possible to overcome the disunity of Islam

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and achieve its real centralization under the auspices of the Duma. According to F. R. Ramazanova, the lack of dialogue between the authorities and radical and moderate Islamists is explained by several reasons. On the one hand, the Islamists themselves are not ready for dialogue, because they feel distrust of the authorities and fear that dialogue will be used as a way to neutralize the Islamic movement, split it and weaken its connection with the masses. On the other hand, the state is also not ready for such a dialogue.

R. M. Ziganshin (IB RAS) in his report "The Global Four-handed Game "noted that the West now has three main "headaches" - the Muslim world, China and Russia, while the Muslim world is put in the first place. In the Muslim world, due to its traditions and cultural values that have a thousand-year history, the cultural and economic expansion of the West causes allergies in the most acute form. This is expressed in the form of terrorism as an extreme case of confrontation. War in its classical sense is not excluded, as can be seen in the example of Iraq. Encroaching on the cultural values of the Muslim world, on its traditions, trying to impose on them the "values of democracy", the West seeks to arouse sympathy among ordinary people and flirt with their elites. He is playing a subtle game in which China and Russia are also present in addition to the Muslim world. Outwardly, the United States does not have the sharp antagonism with them that it has with the Muslim world. Therefore, we are already talking about the medium and long term.

In general, the conference touched upon a wide range of issues related to Russian politics and terrorism, and made a certain contribution to understanding the processes that are currently taking place in the international arena, especially in the regions of the traditional spread of Islam.

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