Ural Federal University Reveals Strategies to Combat Extremism Spread
On July 24, the Coordination Center for Prevention of Terrorism together with the International Office and the Preparatory Department for foreign students of UrFU with the support of the Department of the Federal Security Service of Russia in the Sverdlovsk Region held a meeting with the students of the Preparatory Department from Pakistan. Representatives of the Regional Spiritual Assembly of Muslims of the Sverdlovsk Region within the Central Spiritual Assembly of Muslims of Russia also participated in the event.
Ilya Kuzmin, Deputy Vice-Rector for International Relations of UrFU, and Maria Mukoseeva, Head of the Preparatory Department for Foreign Students, made a welcoming speech to the foreign students.
Egor Gorbunov, a specialist from the UrFU Coordination Center for Prevention of Terrorism, also spoke at the meeting. He discussed with the participants the problems of social and cultural adaptation of foreign students and the importance of observance of Russian legislation on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Much attention was paid at the meeting to preventing the spread of extremist and terrorist ideas in the Russian Federation. In particular, the meeting focused on how to prevent young people from joining non-traditional religious movements, how to resist recruitment, and where to turn when encountering manifestations of extremism in life or on the Internet. The participants discussed the peculiarities of religious norms and rituals on the university’s territory, the cultural peculiarities of life in Russia, and about traditional Russian spiritual and moral values. Students also got acquainted with the general rules of the university’s internal regulations.
The foreign participants thanked the organizers of the meeting and the participants for their help and attention, they learned the addresses of mosques and prayer houses where they can freely perform religious rituals, communicate with fellow believers, and integrate into the Russian Muslim community.
The organizers thanked Radif Gindullin, imam-akhund of the Regional Spiritual Assembly of Muslims, and Saidali Sokhibov, senior lecturer of the theology department of the Ural State Mining University, for their participation in the event.
The Coordination Center hopes for further fruitful cooperation with representatives of the religious community in carrying out preventive activities among foreign students of UrFU.