Mosque opening in Moscow attended by Putin, Abbas, Erdogan

The privately-funded mosque is one of only six in Moscow, where the Muslim population is estimated by local media at about 2 million.

“I would like to extend my honest congratulations on the occasion of the opening of the Moscow Grand Mosque, which is a milestone event not only for Russia’s capital but for the whole Muslim world”, the State Duma speaker said a statement.

The Moscow mosque was originally built in the early 1900s, and then demolished in 2011.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan, Palestine’s leader Mahmoud Abbas and several Arab and Muslim officials and diplomats attended the opening ceremony upon an invitation by Putin.

The mosque opened after 10 years of construction and is expected to have a capacity of up to 10,000 worshipers. Since 2011 the building has undergone complete reconstruction.

The biggest donation was made by Dagestan-born billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, who gave $100 million to the project after barely surviving a vehicle crash in France in 2007.

An estimated two million Muslims live in Moscow, which has seen an influx of people from the North Caucasus, Azerbaijan and the former Soviet states in Central Asia.

“The opening of the mosque will only slightly improve the situation during [religious] holidays”, Abbyasov said. Several Muslim leaders condemned the Russian Council of Muftis for sanctioning the demolition of the historical structure, Russia Beyond the Headlines writes. The mosque commissioned by the Moscow Central Mosque Religious Administration, with the interior of the mosque built in an classical Ottoman style. Only 4 percent support the idea.

The newspaper cited a January poll by the Levada Center think tank that found 51 per cent of Muscovites are against the building of new mosques in the city.