Paul Goble
Staunton, Oct. 18 – The Russian defense ministry has reported that 11 people died and 15 were wounded when soldiers fought with each on at a military base in Belgorod Oblast, but the Moscow authorities have denounced it as “a terrorist act” but not provided explanations of how this violence arose.
But other reports, including on telegram channels, Andrey Melnikov, the editor of NG-Religii, says, strongly suggest that this clash arose because a commander spoke incautiously about holy war, an idea that has special meaning for Muslims and that led them to respond violently (ng.ru/ng_religii/2022-10-18/9_10_538_terract.html).
The editor reports that one of these sources said that the problems in Belgorod began when “some of our soldiers – a Daghestania, an Azerbaijani, and an Adygey, said that ‘this is not our war’ and tried to declare that they no longer wanted to serve.” The commander responded that they must because the war in Ukraine is “’a holy war.’”
Since the start of the fighting, Russian officials, then Russian Orthodox leaders, and then some Muslim leaders have talked about the conflict in Ukraine being “’a holy war’” but that is “a two-edged sword.” It may mobilize some but it offends others, especially Muslim, for whom “holy war” has a special meaning, one different that those of the Kremlin and the Patriarchate.
Such locutions may be appropriate and even effective in everyday life, but references to such poorly thought through “spiritual bonds” in the army in war time clearly are not. Instead, they may have exactly the opposite impact that those who talk about them want, dividing rather than uniting people.
In general, Melnikov says, “attempts to use religious ideas in support of military operations” are dangerous, especially given that there are calls for jihad against Russia “from the other side of the front.” Those who fail to understand that risk producing more clashes like those which have already claimed lives in Belgorod.
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