Alaikum as-salam: Warm Muslim greeting from Russian President Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the words of Mufti Albir Kurganov, Chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of Russian Muslims, "as-salamu alaikum" by saying "alaikum as-salam" during a meeting with Muslim clerics. Putin also criticized Ukrainian politicians over the annexation of Crimea and the Israel-Palestine war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the words of Mufti Albir Kurganov, Chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of Russian Muslims, "as-salamu alaikum" by saying "alaikum as-salam" during a meeting with Muslim clerics.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with members of the Spiritual Assembly of Russian Muslims today. At the meeting, where the situation of Muslims in Russia was discussed as well as the events in the Middle East, Mufti Albir Kurganov, President of the Spiritual Assembly of Russian Muslims, stood up to ask Vladimir Putin a question and started his words by saying "as-salamu alaikum" means “peace be upon you." When Vladimir Putin responded to Kurganov by saying "alaikum as-salam", he received great applause from the participants in the hall.
In his speech, Putin spoke about the harm suffered by Palestinian civilians in the face of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
"In light of the horrors in Gaza, it is easy to light a spark. When you look at the suffering, bloodied children, you clench your fists and tears come to your eyes. That's how any normal person reacts to that. If they don't react like that, then they have no heart. They have a heart of stone," President Putin noted.
'RUSSIA FORCED INTO OPERATIONS'
Speaking about the war in Ukraine, Putin said that Russia was forced to take military action
"Before you bring out the machine gun, you have to think about this. Was there any other option? No, there was not. We had no other option. Because we were already attacked," Putin noted.
Putin also criticized Ukrainian politicians over the annexation of Crimea.
"After the coup in 2014 (the popular uprising in Ukraine) they started with extremism and the destruction of everything Russian. They gave us a choice where we could do nothing but stand up for the people living there. The same thing happened later in Donbas and Novorossiya. We had to protect people from this Nazi filth," Putin emphasized.
Source: Ihlas News Agency
