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Russia blames 'external forces’ after mob storms airport looking for Israelis
Russia Dagestan Riots: Russia's interior ministry said that 60 people had been arrested after hundreds of anti-Israel protesters stormed the airport.
Russia on Monday blamed "external interference" for an anti-Israel riot that closed an airport in Dagestan. Following the storming of an airport in the capital of the southern Russian region by a mob, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, "It is well known and obvious that yesterday's events at Makhachkala airport are, to a large extent, the result of external interference.
"Ill-wishers" had used widely seen images of suffering in Gaza to stir people up in the predominantly Muslim region in the north Caucasus, the spokesman said without specifying who the Kremlin believed had engineered the violence, or why.
Russia's interior ministry said that 60 people had been arrested after hundreds of anti-Israel protesters stormed the airport in Makhachkala shortly after a plane from Israel arrived. Meanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin was due to hold a meeting with his top advisers, including the defence minister and spy chiefs to discuss "the West's attempts to use the events in the Middle East to split Russian society," Dmitry Peskov informed.
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Earlier, Russia's aviation agency closed down Dagestan's main airport, diverting flights, after the mob stormed it looking for Israeli citizens following reports that a plane from Israel was arriving.
"Following the entry of unknown people into the traffic zone of Makhachkala airport, it has been decided to temporarily close the airport to arriving and departing flights," Rossavitsia said.
According to Russian state media Izvestia and RT, several dozens men came into the airport and onto the runway after being told that a plane had arrived from Israel. One video showed a man who had climbed on onto the wing of a plane belonging to the Russian Red Wings company.
According to Flightradar, a Red Wings flight coming from Tel Aviv had landed in Makhachkala at 7:00 pm local time (1600 GMT). One of the men held a poster that read "Killers of children have no place in Dagestan" and others shouted "Allah Akbar" on the videos, as per news agency AFP.
