Occupation's Religious Administration seeks to annex Muslim communities in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions
Ayder Adjimambetov, the responsible secretary of the occupation's mufti in Crimea and Sevastopol, revealed this plan, as reported by Suspilne TV.
Currently, local communities are undergoing re-registration under Russian law. Once this process concludes, the communities will decide whether to join the Religious Administration. There has been no official response from the Ukrainian side regarding these actions.
Background information:
After the return of Crimean Tatars, the issue of rebuilding religious institutions arose, as they had been destroyed during the Soviet occupation. In 1991, the Qadisat, or Religious Administration of Muslims of Crimea, was established.
At the time of the Russian occupation of Crimea, Emirali Ablaiev served as the mufti. After 2014, he sided with the occupiers and currently holds the position of mufti in the occupation's "Centralized Religious Organization - Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Crimea" (RAMCS). In February 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced suspicions against Ablaiev.
The former mufti of the "Ummah" Religious Administration of Muslims, Said Ismagilov, has repeatedly emphasized that all muftis in Russia and in the occupied Ukrainian territories are under the control of the FSB.
After the occupation of Crimea, many Muslims relocated to cities in mainland Ukraine and formed Muslim communities in areas of compact residence. In 2016, after a two-year delay, RAMCS continued its activities on Ukrainian territory.
In parallel, in February 2015, the Religious Administration of Muslims of Crimea was registered in the Russian legal field as the Religious Administration of Muslims of Crimea and Sevastopol (RAMCS). In June 2016, Ablaiev claimed that supposedly no other Islamic organizations could operate on the peninsula except for the occupation RAMCS.
