Said Ismagilov spoke about the approval of the main Muftis of Russia for the invasion of Ukraine in an interview with Novoye Vremya. Since the beginning of the war, he changed his religious attire to a military uniform — he became a chaplain of Muslims of Kyiv Territorial Defense. Mufti Ismagilov plans to stay in Kyiv until victory, and if necessary, go to the border.
He told NV that he did not try to contact the Muftis of Russia, because "he knows Russian inner workings very well."
"All absolutely [Russian] muftis are controlled by the FSB, for me, this is absolutely no secret. And when the war started, I made an appeal to the Muslims of Russia in Russian. For this, I was accused of extremism. But it doesn't matter. When they kill our women and children, when they try to destroy our country, then in war there is no time for sentiment and no time for diplomatic curtsies. The enemy should be called an enemy and fight on all fronts: information, military, economic and, among other things, the spiritual. The Russian muftis were once again gathered in the North Caucasus on March 16, and they signed a new appeal, where they absolutely approve of Putin's Russian policy in the sense of war against Ukraine. They signed and blessed it," Mufti Said Ismagilov states.
According to him, imams from mosques were gathered in the temporarily occupied territory of the Luhansk region:
"They were abducted somewhere for two days, then returned in handcuffs to the Luhansk Cathedral Mosque and forced to refuse further cooperation with our religious administration, and recognize their subordination to the Russian religious administration. And they posted news about this on many resources that the imams of the so-called "L/DPR" are now coming under the control of the Moscow Religious Administration," the Mufti said.
When asked if they agreed, Mufti Ismagilov replied: "Who wouldn't agree if they were kept there for about two days? You know, people are all people."
Said Ismagilov also spoke about the mosques destroyed by Russian Orcs: "three mosques were shelled: in Konstantinovka, Donetsk region, after which a mosque in Mariupol was damaged, and then a mosque in Severodonetsk, Luhansk region, was shelled. Now I don't know what is happening in Kharkiv with our mosques, of which there were quite a few."
Mufti condemns the actions of Muslims who go to fight in Ukraine:
"I appealed to Muslims in the Middle East and around the world. I said that they would be on the side of sin, crime and injustice if they agreed to this. I tried to convey objective information about what was happening. I warned them that if they sided with the aggressor, it would mean that they would become supporters of sin, violence, death and murder."