Russia plans Muslim channel Saturday, 22 January 2011 17:15

Russia is planning to launch a satellite Muslim channel in an effort to promote tolerance and co-existence among followers of different faiths. “In a month or hardly more, we will see the production of the First Islamic channel in Russia,” Russia’s chief Mufti Ravil Gaynutdin said, Ria Novosti news agency reported. “Now there are technological works which can be designated as “home straight.”
The channel is expected to go on the air late February or at the beginning of March of this year. The Muslim channel will focus on highlighting the teachings and pillars of Islam. It will also feature programmes for youth and children as well as running series about the recitation of the Noble Quran.
The Muslim channel was first proposed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev two years ago. Islamic media has been flourishing in Russia in recent years. The first Arabic-speaking Russian magazine to offer accurate information about Islam and Muslims in Russia saw the light last month. There are also plans to launch a project for a Russian-speaking radio, which will be broadcast on the Internet as of this year to offer a variety of programs to satisfy both Muslims and non-Muslims.
There are some 23 million Muslims in the Russian Federation concentrated in the north of the Caucasus, representing roughly 15 percent of its 145 million population.
Islam is the country’s second-largest religion, behind the Russian Orthodoxy. The Muslim channel is aimed to promote tolerance and co-existence among followers of different faiths. “We consider it is necessary to bring up a spirit of the tolerant relation to representatives of other faiths, love for the neighbor and patriotic sights to the Fatherland,” said Gajnutdin, the Chairman of the Councils of Muftis of Russia.
The Muslim leader said that the staff of the new channel will feature representatives of different faiths.
“We live in the multinational country. Therefore work in the TV channel will be not only to my coreligionists, but also all compatriots,” he said.
Interethnic relations have been tense in Russia in recent months. Last December, Moscow saw the worst nationalist riots in its post-Soviet history after the killing of a football fan in a street fight between far-rightists and immigrant workers. Chanting “Russia for Russians, Moscow for Muscovites”, thousands of Russians attacked anyone of a non-Slavic appearance. Xenophobic attacks are common in Russia, particularly against people from the former Soviet republics, who flock by the millions to Moscow and other large cities to work.