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A plane arrived at Makhachkala airport from Tel-Aviv today. A large crowd gathered at the airport and ended up storming the fences and breaking first into the building, and then out onto the landing ground. As can be seen in the video (see URL in the title), the crowd is waving Palestinian flags. Eyewitnesses report cars are being stopped and the passports of passengers are being checked. Reportedly, the crowd is "looking for the Jews".
Here are some more quotes from various Russian commentators and officials:
“This is exactly how the Maidan activists behaved in Kiev. Well, yes, the same methodology, the same puppeteers,” says blogger Yuri Podolyaka.
It has already become clear that the organizers of the riots were channels that are associated with the ex-State Duma deputy, white ribbon activist Ilya Ponomarev, who fled to Ukraine.
“The most active resource of the organizers of the pogrom is the telegram channel ‘Morning of Dagestan.’ It was organized by Ilya Ponomarev, a former State Duma deputy, and is now under the control of the SBU. Ponomarev even had an interview earlier on this topic. Other TsIPsO (Center for Information and Psychological Operations of Ukraine) resources are also very actively pushing Dagestanis toward Jewish pogroms.
The purpose with which Zelensky organized the Jewish pogrom in Dagestan was to show Russia as an anti-Semitic country, to glue Hamas and Russia together, to glue Israel and Ukraine together, and ensure that 100 billion US dollars go not to Israel alone, but to Israel and Ukraine in one package, as Biden wants,” explains political scientist Sergei Markov.
But his colleague Alexey Chadayev points to the Turkish trace.
“Colleagues who monitor the information field noted a fairly significant trend towards the growth of the Turkish media presence in Dagestan, primarily in television viewing and social networks. Well, think about how Erdogan’s rally at the airport looked through the eyes of the relevant audience, and the videos from there in chats and forums,” writes Chadayev.
One way or another, on the eve of Saturday it was Ponomarev’s “network” who managed to stage a provocation by throwing in information about Israelis staying in one of the hotels in Khasavyurt. A crowd also arrived there. However, those in charge were unable to stop the process, and on Sunday riots already engulfed the airports of Dagestan.
“It’s obvious that a provocation was being prepared (calls were made in public throughout the day), but was not stopped by the authorities, who, as if on purpose, did not notice the problem,” writes political scientist Ilya Grashchenkov, close to the New People party.
“Firstly, the federal airport could have been better protected. And secondly, in terms of image, for Russia as a country that declares the ideals of peaceful coexistence of all peoples and faiths, everything that is happening is a strong blow.
In principle, already in the morning, it was clear that something out of the ordinary was happening. It was quite possible to transfer police reinforcements to Makhachkala by lunchtime. However, they only realized it late in the evening,” notes political scientist Alexey Pilko.
And TV presenter Maxim Shevchenko believes that the emergency in Dagestan is a blow to Russia’s international image.
“What is happening in Dagestan is real chaos. Transferring blame and spreading hatred to an entire people (in this case anti-Semitism) is disgusting. It is unclear how the authorities of Dagestan allowed this to happen, despite the fact that information about this shameful action was disseminated in public pages all day long. Where are your crowds of Russian Guards?
Although there are a couple of unpleasant considerations about this, such pogroms benefit only Israel, Zionist propaganda, and the enemies of Russia. This action was organized specifically to show the Russian authorities, after the Hamas delegation arrived in Moscow, that it ‘does not control the Russian ummah,’” writes Shevchenko.
“There is another failure in the work of the ‘effective managers’ of the Administration Department, which is responsible for internal policy. Or, there is competent work of the 5th column in power,” comments St. Petersburg journalist Dmitry Borisenko.
“The unrest in Dagestan near the airport began last night when they were waiting for a flight from Israel, and there was time (almost a day) to both correctly disperse the crowd and turn the flight to another nearby airport. But for this you need to think,” points out columnist Yuri Baranchik.
And member of the Human Rights Council Marina Akhmedova draws attention to the behavior of the Dagestan police.
“At the Makhachkala airport, locals stopped a man, mistaking him for a Jew. They checked his passport. He turned out to be a resident of Smolensk, Tajik by nationality. What is surprising in this video is that the police behave very kindly. They probably support those who organize these extra-legal lynchings. And if the police continue to behave with the same “understanding”, and the head of the republic speaks out cautiously about misunderstandings, these lynchings will continue,” warns Akhmedova.
By the end of the day, the local muftiate condemned the rioters. Law enforcement officers began making arrests.
“Afterwards, all these countless young men must go to the SMO as volunteers. Otherwise, this model will be recognized as working, and in the foreseeable future there will be a Jewish pogrom in Moscow,” warns Alexei Zhivov, a volunteer helping the front.
TV presenter Andrei Medvedev also agrees with the forecast that the unrest in Makhachkala is just an enemy “pen test”.
“Everyone understands that this is not actually about Dagestan? Why is the technology of information warfare and mass control being practiced here right now? It’s just a testing ground. Now hundreds of enemy PsyOps specialists are closely monitoring the actions of the authorities, the crowd, and information coverage of the situation. And drawing conclusions.
It’s just that next time the authors take their shortcomings into account, there will be a different cry. And not in Dagestan. But against, for example, Russian oppressors in some large region.
And it will be addressed, for example, to foreign workers, to migrants.”
Military correspondent Dmitry Astrakhan recalls that Ponomarev’s accomplices held conferences in Kiev and Europe where plans for the dismemberment of Russia and scenarios for inciting ethnic conflicts in the Russian Federation were openly discussed.
“In 2018, the Ukrainian IPsO and its assistants were working hard on the topic of interethnic conflicts in Russia. Including conducting combat training operations in moments of man-made disasters and other convenient occasions.
Moreover, they held conferences in Kiev at which they spoke openly about what they were doing and could do in Russia,” recalls Astrakhan.
Military correspondent Alexander Kots calls for the harshest possible reaction.
“Now it’s clear what topic they’ll be rocking us with by 2024. The rehearsal was successful. And if there is no tough and prompt reaction from the state to this cave terror, it will only get worse.”
Political scientist Alexey Martynov believes that governors are responsible for stopping such unrest.
“The Jews are the root, imperial Russian people. Anti-Semitism is an ugly and European phenomenon. The same as any xenophobia, including in the Caucasus. Stop it! Ramzan, Melikov! Execute these scoundrels who are pumping all this from you. You are Russian generals - the Chief put you here to watch!” – writes Martynov.
Military correspondent Dmitry Kots predicts that in Dagestan everything will end sadly for the pogromists and their puppet masters. He explains why the riots were not stopped immediately.
“Russia gives the rebels something to learn, to burn off, and only then, after 10-15 hours, when the novelty of the sensations among the rebels begins to subside and physical and mental fatigue sets in, they begin to disperse them and take them. And they will already know exactly why, even if they don’t confess. Then for a long time, the security forces take those who have distinguished themselves, cleaning up their tails. So that nothing else will grow. If anyone thinks that the security forces of the Investigative Committee, always trained by sitting in a green forest under a green banner, have somehow lost the will to win, they are very mistaken.
Dagestan has some political peculiarities. A politician in Dagestan is considered to be the one who can bring out 10 kunaks-dzhigits to a showdown, even with mop sticks. After working with the detainees, it will very quickly become clear whose kunaks were running around the airport. And measures will no longer be taken at the level of neighborhood amirs. One can recall the fate of the “Night Governor of Dagestan” Amirov. Helicopters arrived and took him to Lefortovo. And the kunaks, which resembled a private army, disappeared in all directions.
The Khokhls are now hallucinating a sluggish “Berkut” on Grushevsky, “waiting for orders” under the trembling military hand of Yanukovych. But in the Caucasus, it will be a completely different story - they cordoned it off, armored personnel carriers approached from both sides, drove everyone under the window sills with fire, blew out the Bumblebee - come and admire it, kuma!
But for now, there will be a pause and outrages,” Steshin believes.
And political consultant Yaroslav Ignatovsky sees the further development of the situation as follows:
“The instigators of the riots and the seizure of the airport will soon be identified, found and brought to justice. The version with the provocation of Tsipso/Ponomarev, if it is viable, should receive appropriate argumentation and fact-checking.
In the information field, an attractive image of the republic (where tourists finally went) and its hospitable residents, who must be separated from provocateurs, must be preserved.
The federal center will make appropriate personnel decisions. Surely, many regional officials and security officials will lose their positions.
The legal field will be narrowed even further, legislation (regional for sure) will be tightened regarding participation in mass riots.
The anti-Israeli wave across the country will subside a little because what happened is not anti-Zionism, but real Judeophobia in its worst manifestations. But the general vector will not change. Israel, and the United States behind it, are the aggressor, the residents of Gaza are the victims,” says Ignatovsky.
“The next elections for the head of Dagestan are only in 2025. But I think this could happen earlier,” political strategist Sergei Starovoitov does not rule out.