Another session of Roman Silantyev, who in his recent interview of more than an hour spread information garbage about many well-known Russian Muslims, including the team of our website, raised the question of how to respond to it. Of course, some readers and listeners had the desire to refute or comment on certain statements. However, upon reflection, we have decided that this is fundamentally wrong.
The thing is that for many years Muslims have reacted to Silantyev in this way — trying to debunk him, sometimes even taking legal action. And it was (would be) right if he were the person they perceived him to be — a public opponent.
And it is important to understand that in a constitutional state and civil society in which Muslims in Russia are interested in living, they will inevitably have opponents, including blatant Islamophobes. And they will have to argue with them and sometimes even go to court, because that’s the rules of the game, based on freedom of speech and civilized conflict resolution.
However, and it is important to understand this, Putin’s Russia is not such a state and society, and Roman Silantyev is not such an opponent. It is a toxic state controlled by the secret services and the mafia, where the constitution and laws have long been trampled underfoot, where there are no independent courts, and where the security forces play the role of the mafia and a repressive machine guarding the ruling junta.
Another important point is that, contrary to the constitutional provisions regarding the separation of religious organizations from the state and their equality, Russia has established a state religion and church, the Russian Orthodox Church, which is nurtured under the guise of the KGB and merged with it. And any encroachment on the role of the Russian Orthodox Church, especially claims to equality with it or even to freedom of speech for its competitors, are suppressed by the repressive machine that has seized power in the country, not only against Muslims, but also against Protestants, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and even oppositional Orthodox Christians.
As for Silantyev, this person is an active participant in this repressive policy as its informant and justifier, as well as an active participant in the state coup to abolish the foundations of the constitutional structure of the Russian Federation and establish the aforementioned system instead. And his role is confirmed by his own admissions.
First of all, he openly called for reprisals, including mass extermination, against those Muslims who were designated as enemies of the state on the basis of arbitrary ideological criteria. And not only did he call for this in general terms, but he also actively participated in compiling lists of such people, acting as an informant and justifying these reprisals.
Secondly, he openly admitted his cooperation with the structures that carry out these repressions and is thus their direct accomplice.
Therefore, Roman Silantyev is not an opponent with whom it is appropriate to argue on the merits. Moreover, he is not a scientist at all, as has been written about many times.
Roman Silantyev is an active, obvious and open functionary of a poisonous and illegitimate regime and an accomplice to its crimes. And a conversation with him should be conducted from this angle, not on the basis of his views or «scientific works» that have no value.