Speaking about the growing Islamization of the Balkans, and the danger that this process presents for Europe, Georgy Engelhardt, a researcher at the Department of Contemporary History of Central and South-Eastern Europe of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told News Front:
“Saudi Arabia (and other oil monarchies of the Persian Gulf, such as Qatar, UAE, Kuwait) for decades have systematically invested not only in building mosques, including in non-Islamic countries (Europe, the United States), but primarily in training and alimentation of the Islamic clergy working in these mosques. This policy has ensured not only the re-Islamization of migrant diasporas, but also made them a powerful lever of influence of the Gulf countries on Europe and the United States,” the expert said.
“The Balkans are a particular example of this overall strategy, over the past 25 years, the Gulf countries have made significant progress in promoting radical Islam there. First of all, this applies to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and the Sandzak region in Serbia,” he sums up.