Russia accused Ukraine having played a “key” role in the assault still airport in the Russian Republic of Dagestana Muslim majority, by protesters who were supposedly looking for Israeli passengers.
A crowd invaded the runway and terminal of an airport in the capital Makhachkala on Sunday nightin the midst of the tensions caused in the world by the deadly Israeli bombings against Gaza Strip in retaliation for the bloody attack of Hamas in the south of Israel on October 7.
The clashes were “the result of a planned and externally directed provocation” in which Kyiv played a “key and direct” role, the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova.
The spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskovhad previously indicated that the events were “largely the result of external interference”, without specifying the origin.
With the “images on television of the horrors that occur in the Gaza Strip“, it is “very easy for enemies to take advantage of them and provoke the situation,” he added.
Vladimir Putin will have a meeting tonight
He Russian President Vladimir Putinwill address in a meeting this Monday night “Western attempts to use events in middle East to divide Russian society,” according to the Kremlin.
“What happened is an attempt to sow discord between Muslims and Jews in Russiawho have maintained good relations of friendship and cooperation for centuries,” Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and Putin’s fervent support.
Videos broadcast on social networks and the Russian media showed a group of people controlling vehicles that were leaving the place, knocking down doors in the terminal and surrounding a plane on the runway.
One of the protesters held a sign that read “Child murderers have no place in Dagestan“, according to one of the videos.
The website flightradar indicated that a flight of the Red Wings company from Tel Aviv landed in Makhachkala at 7:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. GMT).
According to the independent Russian media Sota, it was a transit flight that had to take off again towards Moscow two hours later.
Local authorities did not immediately indicate whether the flight and passengers were able to continue the journey.
The airport suffered “major damage” its general director explained, but it was able to reopen in the afternoon on Monday, according to the Russian aviation agency.
The police arrested 60 people and more than 150 “active participants in the riots” were identified, indicated a statement from the Russian Ministry of the Interior.
Source: Ambito
