Russian Supreme Court Says Batal-Haji Sufi Order a Terrorist Organization and Bans It

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 14 – After years of accusing the Batal-Haji sufi order centered in Ingushetia of being extremist or worst, the Kremlin has now had the Russian Supreme Court declare the order a terrorist organization and banned its functioning on the territory of the Russian Federation.

            The verdict (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/427476 and novayagazeta.eu/articles/2026/10/14/verkhovnyi-sud-zapretil-obshchinu-posledovatelei-batal-khadzhi-belkhoroeva-iz-ingushetii-news) is the latest move in a long-running struggle between Russian siloviki, the sufi order itself, and officials in Ingushetia and Chechnya who are members or at least support it.

            Moscow has had to move carefully lest it provoke a response from these well-connected people, but the die was cast in 2022 when the Russian government began accusing the order of murder and involvement in subversion (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/11/russian-officials-accuse-influential.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2026/01/fsb-arrests-members-of-batal-haji-sufi.html).

            The new ban won’t end the story because the Batal-Haji order has as many as 20,000 members who dominate much of the government in Ingushetia and have the active support of Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov. But it is a sign that at least some in Moscow have concluded that the order is too dangerous not to try to suppress.

            For background on the order and Moscow’s calculations about it in recent years, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/01/moscow-authorities-forced-to-proceed.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/03/rise-and-fall-of-batal-haji-sufi-order.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/12/batal-haji-sufi-order-in-ingushetia-new.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/11/moscow-attacks-ingushetias-batal-haji.html.