Russian Muslims have no complaints about their treatment by the authorities, who fully respect their rights, the head of Russia's Mufti Council said on Monday.
Ravil Gainutdin met on Monday with Vladislav Surkov, first deputy head of the Russian presidential administration.
"During our talks, I stressed that [Russia's] multimillion Islamic community can have no claims toward the current authorities because our rights are not being suppressed," Gainutdin said. "We live in a free, democratic country."
A wave of ethnic clashes has swept Russia in the past few weeks after a Moscow football fan was shot dead during a fight between football supporters and migrants from Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus region on December 6.
Over the weekend police detained over 2,000 young people, mostly senior high school students, for attempting to hold unsanctioned nationalist rallies.
"If there are specific issues that need to be urgently addressed, they should be solved properly," Gainutdin said.
"I would like to stress again that the current authorities treat Muslims with a great respect, which means that any issues and problems can be resolved quickly and well."
MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti)
