A spokesman for the Kremlin has rebuked Russian Muslims who don’t treat women of other faiths with the same respect as they show to their own.
Speaking at the ‘New Media’ festival on Wednesday, Dmitry Peskov said Russia was a multi-ethnic country, which makes it crucial for the followers of all religions to treat one another with the same consideration.
“We must respect all the traditions and customs of Muslims, and Muslims must respect all the customs and traditions dear to us and our women when we come to Russian regions with a predominantly Muslim population. Unfortunately, that is not always the case,” he stated.
Peskov added, however, that some customs associated with religion cannot be allowed to take precedence over the security interests of the nation. He referred specifically to the tradition of wearing niqabs, the face-covering Muslim garments that were recently banned in several Russian regions.
Russian federal and regional authorities have previously argued against the niqab on security grounds. Some religious experts have linked the traditional garment with Wahhabism, a particularly strict type of Sunni Islam, to which many jihadist terrorist organizations adhere.
The debate over the fate of the garment was heightened after a high-profile terrorist attack in the Muslim-majority Dagestan Republic last month, which resulted in the deaths of 20 people.
According to a survey conducted earlier this month by the pollster Russian Field, a large majority of Russians – roughly 70% – would support a ban on wearing niqabs in public places. The niqab has already been banned by Islamic authorities in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, a Muslim-majority region in southern Russia, and in Dagestan.