PYATIGORSK (Caucasus) - Russia should open a secular university in North Caucasus to train teachers and experts on Islam, the Kremlin's envoy to the region Alexander Khloponin said.  "We need this secular university on Islamic studies in Caucasus today...because we do not have experts to teach the basics of this religion," he told a meeting of children's rights ombudsmen in North Caucasus on Monday.

Khloponin believes that this measure would help prevent religious conflicts in the region.  "Today, when we see prayer rooms in dormitories of universities in Stavropol [southern Russia], for example, and do not understand the literature their students are reading - we then should not be surprised that we have [religious] clashes on the streets," he said.

North Caucasus Federal District is one of the eight federal districts of Russia, which includes the volatile republics of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia.

The majority of the population in Russia's North Caucasus are Muslims.

Source:  Sergei Chernykh for RiaNovosti