A rare conflict between religious and political leaders has broken out in Russia's North Caucasus region, with Islamic imams accusing the local government of corruption while authorities install cameras in mosques to monitor sermons. Tensions in Ingushetia began when local imams claimed politicians were syphoning off funds from construction of a massive Islamic centre. Such accusations are unusual in a region where strongmen leaders, such as Chechnya's Ramzan Kadyrov, rule with an iron fist and leave little if any room for dissent.

The planned project in the city of Magas includes a Muslim cultural centre and a university, as well as a mosque with a capacity of up to 8,000 worshipers, but it has been on hold for nearly two years. Religious leaders have pledged to hold a rally in Magas at the location of the planned mosque tomorrow, irking the regional government which has banned the gathering. "The money was diverted, the madrasas (religious schools) are deprived of funding, the imams no longer get salaries," Magomed Khachtyrov, Ingushetia's deputy mufti (religious leader), told AFP. He said the government of the majority Muslim Russian republic was putting pressure on the religious leadership due to corruption which "has taken incredible dimensions" and has been criticised by the office of the mufti. General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who has led Ingushetia's government since 2008, has called for tighter oversight of religious sermons, installing cameras in mosques following an attack on one in Nazran in March 2016.