- Trends in the development of the religious situation in the region: According to the results of regular monitoring in the first quarter of 2021, the religious situation remained stable and predictable and was completely under the control of the SI "Department for religious affairs of Almaty region" (hereinafter referred to as the department) and its structural divisions.
As a result of the planned work with the leaders of religious associations, the facts of violation of quarantine requirements in the region were not revealed.
- Information about places of worship (buildings) and other premises used by religious associations and their branches. The total number of religious associations and branches was 644 units. of these, 474 Islamic mosques, 52 Russian orthodox, 11 Roman catholic, 95 Protestant, 10 Jehovah's Witnesses, 1 Bahai community, 1 Krishna consciousness society.
Also, taking into account the proposals of local residents, 48 mosques are being built in the region, and in the future it is planned to build 10 more mosques.
These Islamic mosques employ 578 imams. 294 chief imams, 169 mullahs, 73 naib imams, 29 teachers, 13 azanshu (186 - with higher education, 95-graduates of madrasas, 195 - graduates of special courses, 102-with secondary education). During the reporting period, 1 mullah with a secondary education was hired.
There are 311 priests working in Christian and non-traditional religious areas. Of these, 75 are Russian Orthodox, 29 are Roman Catholic, 204 are Protestant, 2 are Baha'i communities, 1 are Krishna Consciousness Associations (of these, 58 have higher education, 42 have secondary education, and 211 employees have taken special training courses).
- The state of missionary activity. By denomination: there are 29 registered missionaries in the region who have a special permit to engage in missionary activities. They are: 1-Islamic religion, 4-Protestant, 24 missionaries promote the Roman Catholic religious faith. In March, 1 more Roman Catholic missionary was registered.
- The activity of special stationary premises for the distribution of religious literature. The decree of the regional akimat approved 20 special permanent places for the distribution of religious literature. Of these, religious literature is sold in 6 places (Alakol, Eskeldi, Karasai, Panfilov, Ili, and Kegen districts)
- Activity of premises for holding religious events outside of religious buildings (structures). There are 8 namazkhans registered on the territory of the region, who have a special permit to conduct religious rites outside of religious buildings (structures).
- Work on publishing articles in the media. According to the results of the information and propaganda work carried out in the regional and district media, 279 articles were published in the first quarter of this year (226 articles were published in the fourth quarter of 2020) (including 102 republican, 177 district, and city).
- Awareness-raising and awareness-raising activities. In accordance with the updated composition of information and explanatory groups on the religious sphere of the Almaty region in 2021, there are 21 groups consisting of 314 members (including: 1 regional, 3 city, 17 district).
In the first quarter of 2021, according to the plan, 650 events of various formats were held in the region (including: 116 online meetings, 75 meetings, 36 online interviews, 9 online receptions, 42 actions, 118 sermons, 139 online sermons, 4 surveys, 1 online survey, 35 lectures, 15 online lectures, 12 round tables, 4 online round tables, 10 seminars, 6 online seminars,1 online conference, 2 debates, 5 sports events, 2 interviews, 12 class hours, 1 Open Air, 5 religious holidays) in total, 340,538 participants were covered a person. All activities were carried out in compliance with quarantine measures. The main target audience covered by the activities carried out by the IAG: young people (students of secondary schools, university students, marginal youth), civil servants, military personnel, employees of industrial and commercial enterprises, believers, convicts.
- The helpline service. The helpline received 12 messages.
- Work through social networks and online resources. Instagram Facebook and Vkontakte pages of the Department for religious affairs of the Almatu region, as well as in the republican and local media published 4 450 materials on counter-propaganda work in the Internet space during the reporting period. Of these, 267 articles, 597 videos (views 58036), 60 demotivators, 3405 informational materials (views 102,963). In addition, in the social network "Vkontakte" on 3 special fake pages, 121 materials were uploaded.
During the monitoring of the Internet space, 4454 destructive materials were identified and (Youtube - 3521, Instagram – 259, Vkontakte-674) were entered into the "Cyber surveillance" system. A total of 426 links have been blocked since the beginning of 2020.
- Analytical work in the Internet space. As a result of monitoring the religious situation in the region under the "Kazdream Solutions" program, there is a decrease in the number of citizens exposed to the radical ideology of DRW through Internet resources and social networks. So, compared to December 2020, their number decreased by 5,464 Internet users. The number of Internet users interested in the ideology of DRW is 17 259 people (in December 2020, the number of consumers was 22 723).
Among them: the number registered on pseudo-salafi resources – 15 897, Hadadite – 2 548, Sururite – 917, Habashite-688, Jehovah's Witnesses – 68 (Note: due to the change in the religious situation, the "Habashite" direction was taken under control instead of "Pentecostals").
Warning SMS messages about administrative responsibility sent from official and fake accounts (including district and city) of the center, a structural division of the DRA, to subscribers to groups promoting the ideology of DRT in the social network VKontakte contribute to the reduction in the number. In March, 1,420 such SMS messages were sent.
In addition, in order to activate the point IRR, conducted to suppress the influence of the ideology of the DRT groups, the #RELIGIONSCAN project is being implemented on an ongoing basis. The goal of the project is to provide feedback to the population of the region. During the reporting period, feedback was established with 72 group members.