Demographic shifts in the country suggest that Islam is taking firmer root and this has led to increased conflicts with the nation’s Christian political elites.
"For Putin, it s kind of reasonable to send one ethnic minority group to conquer another ethnic minority group," Vladimir Budaev of the Free Buryatia Foundation told Newsweek.
The order signed by Vladimir Putin is attracting criticism from the Kremlin's own official supporters, something almost unheard of in Russia since the invasion began.