Clinton praises tolerance in Muslim Russian region

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday visited Kazan, the capital of Russia's predominantly Muslim Tatarstan region, lauding it as an example of multi-ethnic tolerance and peace.

Situated on the banks of the Volga River 850 kilometres (500 miles) east of Moscow, the city of 1.2 million famously contains both a mosque and a Orthodox cathedral within the walls of its Kremlin.

Over half of the region's population are Tatars, a Muslim Turkic people who live alongside a large ethnic Russian Orthodox Christian population and other minorities.

Clinton, donning a yellow headscarf and taking off her shoes in line with Islamic custom, visited the gigantic Kul Sharif mosque in the Kazan Kremlin alongside the regional leader Mintimer Shaimiyev.

"You are well known as someone who has fostered religious tolerance. It's a wonderful example of what can be done if people work together," she told the local president in the mosque.

"I am happy to be here in a place that models interfaith tolerance. So important in the world today," she added.

Shaimiyev, who has ruled Tatarstan since the collapse of Communism in 1991, for his part declared that "there are no interfaith problems here. We have plenty of mixed marriages."

"A much better way to live," agreed Clinton.

Three women in traditional costumes representing the region's main ethnic groups had earlier greeted Clinton off her plane and presented her with a local cake known as chak-chak.

After the Soviet collapse Shaimiyev initially floated the idea of Tatar separatism, to the horror of Moscow which at that time feared a domino collapse of Russia as a state.

But the local strongman can now boast the only special autonomy agreement with Moscow of any of the 89 regions that make up Russia, a fact that appears to have secured his loyalty to the Kremlin.

"You respect the past while you keep your eye firmly on the future," Clinton told Shaimiyev after talks in his presidential palace.

Shaimiyev described himself as a "centrist" and said "the important thing is people trust you and they trust you with their open hearts."

In the 15th century, Kazan was the capital of the Kazan Khanate, a Tatar state that was a major Muslim power in the region, before it was sacked by Ivan the Terrible in 1552 and brought under Moscow's control.

The city proudly celebrated its millennium anniversary in 2005 when the Kul Sharif mosque, named after a Tatar leader who died defending the city from Ivan the Terrible, was inaugurated in the Kazan Kremlim.

Muslims make up over 20 million of Russia's 140 million-strong population.

Energy rich and a centre of heavy industry, Tatarstan has been hit by none of the Islamic militancy that has gained influence in Russia's poorer Muslim Northern Caucasus region.

It can boast impressive foreign investment, a metro system and a football side, Rubin, who were Russian champions last year.

The city is due to host the World Student Games in the summer of 2013, in one of the biggest sporting events to be held in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"What is particularly attractive about Kazan is that you have a mosque and an Orthodox church side by side," Clinton told Echo of Moscow radio Wednesday morning ahead of her visit.

"Tatarstan is predominantly Muslim but the people live very peacefully together in an interfaith way and I wanted to see that for myself," she added.