“Those who are fighting on the other side (Chechen militants – ed.) don’t know that Russia has always been the most loyal, reliable and consistent defender of the Islamic interests. By destroying Russia they are destroying one of the major supports for the Islamic world.” -Vladimir Putin
http://english.pravda.ru/world/asia/14-12-2005/9386-islam-0/
Putin is telling the truth. Leftists have been critical in the rise of Islam from its low point with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1922.