Khabib Nurmagomedov’s victory over Conor McGregor became the culmination of recent events, demonstrating that the Kremlin’s «ties» are breaking, especially with Muslims. It is no secret that prior to this fight, Kremlin propaganda outlets such as Life.ru and the Telegram aggregator Karaulny conducted a campaign to discredit Khabib. The young Dagestani was accused of being «too much of a Muslim,» and the Kremlin propagandist with diminished social responsibility, Tina Kandelaki, even declared that he was «the leader of a band that opposes the progress of the Caucasus.» However, it was interesting to see what happened inside this snake pit when Khabib emerged victorious. There was a real split within it. Supporters of the strict Kremlin establishment, who had remained silent while watching this persecution when the outcome of the fight was unknown, immediately started talking about the «unity of the Russian nation» when they heard that Khabib had won, and Putin was forced to congratulate him on his victory. However, his radical wing, represented by Kots, the German «Russian Jew» Petrovsky from the Fantastic Plastic Machine channel, and Stanislav Yakovlev-Ortega, publicly rebelled against the leadership and continued to argue that Khabib had no connection to the Russian nation and was promoting values alien to it. As a result, a scandal erupted with accusations of betrayal of the Russian nation by some members of the Kremlin’s propaganda snake pit and lack of understanding and insufficient protection of its interests by others.
The second reason for the «hype» in Russian society, especially in its official and/or Islamophobic parts, were the mass protests in Ingushetia. In addition to Kremlin propagandists, who did not fail to mention that «the leader of the local protest, Sultigov, is known, among other things, for having a son who was a deceased «al-Qaeda» militant in Syria,» representatives of the Islamophobic wing of the Russian opposition also commented on these protests with obvious envy. For example, the channel «Politota» wrote: «If you compare the protest in Ingushetia with the protest in the rest of Russia, you can notice a difference in the attitude of the police towards the demonstrators. While in Moscow the participants of the ‘Endless Protest’ are caught and detained by policemen, in Magas no one touches anyone. This difference is due to a stronger national unity, which does not allow the police to use violence against «their people» — both out of a sense of ethnic and religious solidarity, and out of fear of blood revenge, which is much more common in the North Caucasus. In addition to blood ties, the factor that unites them is the strengthening of radical Islam».
Some observers have been quick to explain the impact that Khabib’s victory and the protests in Ingushetia have had on the Russian media space by their distinctively Caucasian nature. And to some extent this is certainly true. However, another equally interesting event took place somewhat earlier in another non-Caucasian but also Muslim republic, which remained in the shadows. Specifically, when riots broke out in the Bashkir village of Temyasovo, as we mentioned recently, the radical opposition figure Ayrat Dilmukhametov (pictured below, center) arrived on the scene and publicly held the local security forces accountable for their actions in front of the Bashkir people. It is simply impossible to imagine such a situation in an ordinary Russian region, let alone with the usual Russian opposition. In all these events, Muslims have shown that they are the most determined part of Russian society. And, interestingly, this was demonstrated not only by explicit opposition figures, but also by loyalists who showed that their loyalty to the Kremlin system is not unlimited. This was the case with the Ingush OMON, which refused to let colleagues from other regions enter the republic, or with the Bashkir policemen, who refused to turn against their own people. This should give pause to the hotheads who reject any beneficial actions or successes of Muslims, people who are somehow connected with the current system. For example, one can criticize Khabib for publicly demonstrating his loyalty to the Russian tyrants, but as we can see, whether he wanted to or not, he struck a blow at their «bonds» simply because of his dedication to the values of Islam, which are abhorrent to them. And if he is a thinking person, he will undoubtedly draw conclusions from this situation and understand the value of loyalty based on Russian state patriotism versus solidarity based on love of Islam or hatred of it.
We must also remember that the end of a system of oppression usually comes not when the most principled and uncompromising individuals oppose it, but when people from within that system begin to align themselves with the values that oppose it. This was the case when the Muslims were allowed into Mecca by the Quraish elites, who realized that resistance was futile and that the Muslims had truth and power on their side. This also happened more recently with former Soviet officers like Dzhokhar Dudayev and Aslan Maskhadov, or former Yugoslav officers like Naser Oric and Ismet Nanic. And the Syrian revolution would never have been possible if Sunni officers and soldiers from the Baathist regime had not begun to change sides. The key to success for the Islamic forces is to win over people whose loyalty to Islam and Muslims is stronger than their loyalty to a system that has shown its ineffectiveness and hatred towards them. And the prerequisite for this is the fact that belonging to Islam and the solidarity based on it breaks the Kremlin’s bonds, both from the outside and from within.