Conflict between Apti Alaudinov and Schema-Abbot Gavriil resolved by order “from above”

The conflict between Apti Alaudinov and Schema-Abbot Gavriil provoked wider public outcry than its participants could have imagined, and the rapid reconciliation has been connected with the influence “from above” on both the commander of the “Akhmat” special forces, on the other side, and the schema-abbot and Orthodox activists, on the other side, analysts believe.

Political analyst Sergey Boyko, an officer of the Adam Smith Research Centre, Olga Sibiryova, an activist of the “Sova”* Research Centre, and Sergey Chapnin, the director of communications at the Centre for Orthodox Studies at Fordham University, commented on the conflict between Apti Alaudinov and Father Gavriil to the “Caucasian Knot”.

The story with the Apti Alaudinov’s apologies to Schema-Abbot Gavriil is a reflection of the new balance of power, in which the weight of the Chechen security forces has significantly decreased, political analyst Sergey Boyko believes. “In addition, Chechen political consultants are trying to absorb figures like Father Gavriil. However, it’s too early to say that this is a single ideological project. Rather, it’s just additional processing of the information occasion,” the political analyst told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

It cannot be ruled out that the attempt by Orthodox activists to attack such a significant figure as Apti Alaudinov is a trial balloon to understand how far they may go in putting pressure on Muslims

All the actors in the story were pursuing their own immediate interests and did not expect such a wide public outcry, believes Olga Sibiryova, an activist of the “Sova”* Research Centre.

“It cannot be ruled out that the attempt by Orthodox activists to attack such a significant figure as Apti Alaudinov is a trial balloon to understand how far they may go in putting pressure on Muslims,” Olga Sibiryova suggests.

But even if the situation is as described above, the initiators of the idea, who stand behind the “Sorok Sorokov” (Forty Forties) Orthodox movement, clearly did not like the result, and they preferred to backtrack, the activist of the “Sova”* Research Centre noted. “However, it seems to me that the case still more likely arose out of stupid and thoughtless actions rather than out of complex ideological calculations,” Olga Sibiryova emphasized.

The squabble between Apti Alaudinov and Schema-Abbot Gavriil is an example of a “managed conflict,” believes Sergey Chapnin, the director of communications at the Centre for Orthodox Studies at Fordham University.

“The public conflict, followed by a swift public reconciliation between Schema-Abbot Gavriil and the activists of the ‘Sorok Sorokov’ (Forty Forties’ Orthodox movement who supported him, on the one hand, and Apti Alaudinov, on the other side, is a vivid example of managed conflicts in the state that tightly controls all spheres of society, including interreligious relations. I would even say that this is a classic example of indirect and quite effective conflict management. We see how, by chance, literally out of nowhere, a conflict arose between the Orthodox and Muslims: a video of Father Gavriil’s sermon from YouTube ‘went viral’ and was widely disseminated. The video caused a sharp, boorish reaction from a Muslim, Father Gavriil was immediately supported by Orthodox activists, but condemned by church authorities, including the patriarch, and then ... Everyone quickly made peace, and it was all over. It turns out that ‘in reality’ there are no problems,” Sergey Chapnin stated.

They all played the reconciliation show like clockwork

The expert notes the point is, first of all, that all the participants in the conflict are people of the system. “If they receive an order from the presidential administration or even directly from their superiors or supervisors, they carry it out immediately and without any questions. This concerns not only Apti Alaudinov, an officer and official of the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD), but also Schema-Abbot Gavriil and his superior Bishop Pankraty, and Andrei Kormukhin, the leader of the ‘Sorok Sorokov’ (Forty Forties) Orthodox movement, and other Orthodox activists, and even Patriarch Kirill. They all played the reconciliation show like clockwork. And only ‘the enemies of Russia do not abandon the desire to provoke the Orthodox and Muslims into conflict, and if possible even into a violent confrontation.’ Those words, as if taken directly from an instruction designed by the Kremlin, were voiced by Patriarch Kirill, when he commented on the conflict,” Sergey Chapnin explained.

“Drive away all those who, under the pretext of ‘concern’ for Russians, for Russian culture, for the Orthodox Church, call for a fight against Russian Muslims. This is a provocation! A very important factor in preserving the unity of our people is good relations between the Orthodox and Muslims, as, incidentally, between all religions and confessions. If religions and confessions contain no ideas of extremism, then, of course, we develop relations with them,” RIA “Novosti” news agency quoted Patriarch Kirill as stating on June 16.

Nevertheless, Sergey Chapnin emphasizes that the conflict should not be underestimated.

“It is no secret that tensions are growing in relations between the Orthodox and Muslims in Russia. I will cautiously suggest that there is growing dissatisfaction among Orthodox patriots who support <military actions in Ukraine> with the general position of the Muslim Ummah (community), which does not consider this war to be its war, but only a war between two infidel states. The task of the Orthodox patriots is to secure real, not declarative, support from Muslims. It is possible that the state will also use this settled conflict to push Muslims toward a more patriotic position,” Sergey Chapnin summed up.

This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 23, 2025 at 12:58 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here. 

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.