ABSTRACT
The issue of public worship sites are often a sensitive subject and can easily create problems among the many actors involved. Islamic communities in Russia often have to tackle the problem of negotiating both with regional authorities and non-Muslim communities in order to realize the constitutional right for religious activities. These negotiations can linger for years until a proper site for a mosque or house of prayer is assigned or until strong protests calm down. Considerable difficulties and discrimination were experienced by Muslims in a number of towns; for example, in the Moscow region (Noginsk, Sergiev Posad and Yahroma), Astrakhan in the South, Petrozavodsk and Kostomuksha in Karelia, and Tyumen in Siberia.1 The story behind the building of a mosque in Kaliningrad is a case in point. The Muslim community in Kaliningrad started negotiations with the city and Regional Administration about acquiring land for a mosque more than a decade ago. For various reasons, the decision about assigning a lot was continuously postponed and changed. Finally, in the spring of 2008, construction on the mosque was able to start.
