Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia called insulting religious feelings a form of extremism in a conversation with Uzbekistan's Mufti Usmonhon Alimov in Tashkent. "Insulting religious feelings is a form of extremism; it's something that shakes the foundations of public life, something that provokes internal conflicts," he said during his visit to Uzbekistan. Furthermore, Patriarch Kirill said that traditional religions "are expected to strengthen the foundations of national life."

Patriarch Kirill called on religious leaders "to work with their flock, but educate this flock in the spirit of respect for each other, care for stability in public life, care for the good of the state." The mass media sometimes are not delicate enough about people's feelings; the religious feelings of Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists are insulted, and at the Russian Inter-Religious Council, representatives of various religions react to that in a unified way, he said. "We believe it's the right answer," the patriarch said.

Uzbekistan's Mufti Usmonhon Alimov was born in the Samarkand region on January 1, 1950. He studied in universities in Uzbekistan and Morocco. He is the 138th on the list of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world compiled this year by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Amman, Jordan. (Quelle: www.interfax-religion.ru, 29. September 2017)