PETROPAVLOSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia -- When Usman Usmanov laid the cornerstone of the first mosque in the Russian Far East last summer, he was thrilled to see the start of a spiritual center for 30,000 Muslims in the Kamchatka region.
But when the chairman of the Muslim Communities Union opened the next issue of the newspaper Novaya Kamchtskaya Pravda, he was stunned at the hostility toward the mosque.
The paper stated, "It is not a mosque; it is a stone of conflict which is laid today by irresponsible bureaucrats led by the mayor, who last Saturday became 'an honorary Tatar' " -- a reference to the Mongols that conquered Russia in the 13th century.
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