Russia’s Supreme Court outlaws Batal Hajji Sufi order as extremist
“Members of the order were linked to numerous attacks on Russian military and police personnel in the region.”
Russia’s Supreme Court outlawed the Batal Hajji brotherhood on Wednesday, granting a request from state prosecutors to designate the closed Sufi Muslim order as an extremist organization for allegedly providing material support to North Caucasus insurgents.
State Prosecutors Tie Sufi Order to Major Terror Attacks
The Prosecutor General’s Office stated that the group orchestrated the deadly 2009 Nevsky Express train bombing, an attack originally claimed by Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov.
Prosecutors also accused Batal Hajji affiliates of aiding the March 2024 attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow and the assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov later that same year by supplying weapons and ammunition to the perpetrators.
Order Members Convicted of Trafficking Weapons for Terror
Authorities reported that over 100 members of the order have been convicted of illicitly trafficking weapons to facilitate acts of terror.
Community leaders established illegal channels to smuggle foreign-made firearms from abroad. These actions follow a 2023 decision by Russian authorities to designate the brotherhood’s military wing as a terrorist organization, according to The Moscow Times.
19th-Century Roots and Lost Political Influence
Founded in the 19th century by Ingush Sheikh Batal Hajji Belkhoroev—a pupil of Chechen Muslim mystic Kunta-Hajji—the closed order numbers roughly 20,000 members, with membership passed down strictly by birthright.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, community members held key government roles and maintained a near monopoly on the construction industry in Ingushetia before a clash with the republic’s Kremlin-appointed leadership resulted in their loss of political and economic influence.
Deployment Under Kadyrov Despite State Accusations
Despite these state accusations, approximately 100 members of the brotherhood joined the Russian military in 2022 as part of the Batal Hajji Rapid Response Unit, which operated under Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s Akhmat military unit within the Russian army, according to reporting by the exiled news website Meduza.