Russian media agency reported on Monday that authorities detained 60 individuals after hundreds stormed an airport in predominantly Muslim Dagestan on Sunday. The agency added that "the identities of 150 prominent protesters have been identified," noting that nine police officers were injured in the incident, two of whom are receiving treatment in the hospital.
Protesters stormed the airport on Sunday as a plane arrived from Israel, prompting security forces to close the airport and disperse the demonstrators. The Kremlin viewed the "storming of the anti-Israel crowd at Makhachkala Airport in Dagestan as a result of an external influence." In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that "malicious actors" used widely visible images of suffering in Gaza to stir up emotions in the predominantly Muslim region of the North Caucasus.
For its part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that the storming of Makhachkala Airport on Sunday by the anti-Israel crowd was a result of a "provocation" orchestrated from outside Russia, with Ukraine playing a "direct and major role."
Meanwhile, the head of the Russian Federation of Jewish Communities, Rabbi Alexander Boroda, called on authorities to apprehend and severely punish those involved in the riots. He stated in a statement: "The riots that occurred with the arrival of a plane from Tel Aviv at Makhachkala Airport undermine the foundations of our multicultural and multinational state." He added that "the Dagestan authorities were unprepared to confront the riots."
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak pointed out that "Kyiv is unrelated to the anti-Israel disturbances in the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan in Russia," rejecting Moscow's accusations regarding this matter as "baseless." Speaking to Reuters, Podolyak said, "Of course, Ukraine has no connection to the latest widespread wave of xenophobia on the territory of the Russian Federation."
