ABSTRACT
Although the most radical Soviet Muslims during the Cold War could be found in Central Asian union republics such as Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and in parts of the Caucasus, radical imams existed wherever Muslims lived, including in predominantly Russian cities such as Leningrad. When Tajik jihadists crossed the border into Afghanistan to join the war against the Afghan government and its Soviet backers, they were among the very first Western foreign fighters. And when in 1987 some of the Tajik foreign fighters returned to attack targets in their native country, they not only became the first returning Western foreign fighters but also simultaneously became the first jihadist terrorists in the Western world. This chapter describes the origins and the genealogy of Islamic extremism and jihadism in the Russian-speaking world.
