➡ From Child Welfare Information Gateway NJ:
Russia: Controversy Erupts In Russia Over Report On Female Genital Mutilation
National Public Radio – August 23, 2016
Asked to comment, Mufti Ismail Berdiev – a Muslim religious leader from the area – told a Moscow radio station, “Moscow Says,” that female circumcision is a “healthy custom” practiced in one of the republics of Russia’s North Caucasus region. Berdiev even said that all women should be circumcised “to end depravity on Earth and reduce sexuality.” The Russian news agency, Interfax, promptly contacted the mufti to ask if what he said was an endorsement of FGM. Berdiev expanded on the theme, saying female circumcision is “necessary to reduce women’s sexuality…. God created women to give birth to children and to raise children. And [circumcision] doesn’t have anything to do with that. Women can still give birth, and there’s less depravity.”
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/08/23/491055905/controvery-erupts-in-russia-over-report-on-female-genital-mutilation