And some Muslims convert to Christianity. My point is that it shouldn’t be a surprise that Putin is committed to 1) Muslim allies like Iran and Turkey, there is much historical precedent and 2) Muslim interests due to the migrant workers his economy relies on and 3) the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation which include the Muslim republics of Chechnya, Tatarstan, Dagestan et al.
And Putin can not afford to aggravate all Muslims in Russia because there are so damn many of them in the country.
And you are correct, Putin is allied with many Muslim countries near Russia with common borders.