The 50th anniversary of the murdered Muslim activist Arthur Rusyaev, who did not live to see it, symbolically coincided with significant events in his region. The local authorities of the Kaliningrad region, who were responsible for his murder, claimed that the Lithuanian authorities had partially blocked them. The superiors in Moscow threatened serious consequences, even war. In reality, the Lithuanians did not take any concrete steps against the Kaliningrad region. As a member of the EU, Lithuania is obliged to implement the decisions on sanctions concerning the products in question and thus prevent their delivery to the Kaliningrad region. The Lithuanian authorities and their superiors in Moscow demanded an exception for the transit from Russia to Kaliningrad, which should be free. It was supposed to be free until Putin’s Russia began to behave in a way that no one in Europe had behaved since 1945, with all the consequences that entailed.
«Where does Arthur Rusyaev, Rahimullah Allah, come in?» someone might ask. The answer is the same as we wrote after his death and in many similar cases. Chechens say: «A man is not the one who can fight, but the one who knows who his enemy is». This is exactly our situation — we do not have the ability to fight against our oppressors on our own, but we must never forget who our enemies are, wish for their severe punishment, strive for it, and at least ask Allah for it.
Someone may say that the blockade, like sanctions, will harm ordinary people, the same Muslims, the majority of whom would not approve of it, just as Ruslan himself would not. This is possible because hostages of terrorists often exhibit the «Stockholm syndrome.» But as their «national leader» taught us, we should not negotiate with terrorists, but rather «kill them in the toilet». Therefore, revenge in this form must be approved and supported under all circumstances, seeing it as a lesson from Allah, who can answer the prayers of the oppressed in this way.
Moreover, by embarking on a path of military takeover of the territory of foreign states and continuing to threaten these new states, the Kremlin may eventually face a boomerang effect. By threatening Lithuania to open a corridor from Russia to the Kaliningrad region, it risks losing control over the latter, which could fall under NATO control. Moreover, Lithuania has long been the largest center for Russian political emigrants, including some Muslims. This means that in such a scenario they might have a chance to punish Rusayev’s persecutors, restore the mosque he built, and name one of the streets in the liberated territory of the present-day Kaliningrad region after him.