Dagestan: Putin calls security meeting after mob swarms Russian airport

Antisemitic slogans were reportedly shouted and some in the crowd are alleged to have examined the passports of arriving passengers, as ITV News' Rageh Omaar reports

Vladimir Putin has called a meeting of security and law officials in Moscow after a mob chanting antisemitic slogans stormed an airport in Dagestan after a flight from Israel landed there.

Hundreds of angry men, some carrying banners with antisemitic slogans, rushed onto the tarmac of the airport in Makhachkala, the capital of the predominantly Muslim region, on Sunday night, looking for Israeli passengers on the flight from Tel Aviv.

Authorities closed the airport and police converged on the facility.

Video on social media shows some in the crowd waving Palestinian flags and others trying to overturn a police car.

Antisemitic slogans can be heard being shouted and some in the crowd allegedly examined the passports of arriving passengers, apparently in an attempt to identify those who were Israeli.

Videos shared on social media shows some in the crowd waving Palestinian flags and others trying to overturn a police car

Dagestan’s Ministry of Health said more than 20 people were injured, with two in critical condition. It said the injured included police officers and civilians.

Sixty people were detained in the unrest, it is not clear if charges had been filed against any of them.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it opened a criminal probe on charges of organising mass unrest.

While voicing support for Palestinians in Gaza, the regional Dagestani government appealed to citizens to remain calm and not take part in such protests.

Dagestan is a semi-autonomous region in southern Russia that borders Georgia, Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the security meeting will discuss “attempts by the West to use the events in the Middle East to divide the (Russian) society.”

“It is well known and obvious that yesterday’s event around the Makhachkala airport is largely the result of outside interference, including information influence from outside.”

Russia’s civil aviation authority said the Makhachkala airport resumed operations at 2pm on Monday, adding that flights from Tel Aviv to Makhachkala and Mineralnye Vody, a city in the neighbouring Stavropol region, will be redirected to other cities.

In a statement on Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel "expects the Russian law enforcement authorities to protect the safety of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they may be and to act resolutely against the rioters and against the wild incitement directed against Jews and Israelis."

Mr Netanyahu’s office added the Israeli ambassador to Russia was working with authorities to keep Israelis and Jews safe.

White House National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the US "vigorously condemns the anti-Semitic protests in Dagestan."

In a tweet on X, she said: "The US unequivocally stands with the entire Jewish community as we witness a worldwide surge in antisemitism. There is never any excuse or justification for antisemitism."

The Supreme Mufti of Dagestan, Sheikh Akhmad Afandi, called on residents to stop the unrest at the airport saying the issue "cannot be resolved in this way."

Dagestan Governor Sergei Melikov promised consequences for anyone who took part in the violence saying the actions at the airport were "a gross violation of the law."

He called the protests a "knife in the backs of those who gave their lives for the security of the Motherland," referring to the 1999 war in Dagestan and troops currently fighting in Ukraine.

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