Six activists of Hizb ut Tahrir al-Islami, an Islamic organization considered terrorist in Russia, will go on trial on charges of extremist activities in Russia's predominantly Muslim republic of Bashkortostan.

"The suspects deliberately performed clandestine anti-Russian and anti-constitutional activities... They incited religious hatred by propagating their doctrines among the population, recruited new followers, prepared and disseminated extremist information," the Russian Prosecutor General's office said on its website on Thursday.

Hizb ut Tahrir, which calls itself a political party, is not classified as a terrorist organization by the United States.

The group, which seeks to unite all Muslim countries into a unitary Islamic state, says on its website that it seeks to achieve its goals through peaceful means.

Russia, however, accuses the movement of having links to radical Islamist groups in Chechnya, and it was placed on a list of banned organizations by the country's Supreme Court in 2003.

Russia has eight regions with a prevailing Muslim population - Tatarstan and Bashkortostan in the Volga area, the North Caucasus republics of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkariya and Karachai-Circassia, and nearby Adyghea in South Russia.

MOSCOW, April 15 (RIA Novosti)