Russian Muslims Between Oil and Federalism

By  Elmira Akhmetova

 
 
Although Russian authorities carried out massacres against Muslims in Chechnya, some Russian Muslims prefer not to secede, (Reuters photo)
 
Muslim republics in Northern Caucasus are rich in oil, natural gas, coal, gold, and many other mineral resources.  
According to Ariel Cohen, a research fellow at the Washington-based Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Heritage Foundation, the huge oil reserves are estimated to be over 25 billion barrels under the Caspian Sea.

He estimated that oil reserves in the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are similar to those in Kuwait and larger than those in Alaska’s Northern Slope and the North Sea combined.

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