Bennigsen appeared prescient when the Soviet Union began to crumble, and especially in its aftermath. Events supported his belief that Soviet Muslims had retained their Islamic identity, though not a solid knowledge of Islamic practice, despite having been cut off from the larger Islamic world since the 1920s.
Bennigsen's intuition proved correct as the Soviet Union began to dissolve, and particularly in its aftermath. The events corroborated his assertion that Soviet Muslims maintained their Islamic heritage, although they lacked a thorough grasp of Islamic customs, despite being isolated from the global Islamic community since the 1920s.