The rise of Muslim Russia Daniel Pipes on the Islamisation of Russia: Not only do ethnic Muslims account for up to 23 of Russia's 144 million, 15 per cent, but their proportion is growing fast... In contrast, Muslim women bear 2.3 children on average... In Moscow, Tatar women have six children and Chechen and Ingush women 10. Think how Russian foreign policy will be affected. Think what the Russian army will - or won't - do if most soldiers are Muslim. But the unrest over the Shcherbakov murder suggests there could be an ugly interruption to this demographic change. A mutual acquaintance tells me he once asked Putin about the predicted Muslim majority in his country. Putin's reported response: "We won't let that happen."