Turmoil over planes from Israel
Putin blames Western “scum” for airport riots
October 30, 2023, 11:34 p.m
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An angry mob storms an airport in Dagestan when a plane from Israel arrives there. Passengers are pelted with stones. Ukrainian President Zelenskyj confirms that Moscow has lost control again. But for Kremlin chief Putin it is clear: the West is to blame for the anti-Semitic excesses of violence.
Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has used the anti-Jewish riots in the Russian republic of Dagestan to make accusations against the West. The events in Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala were inspired not least from Ukrainian territory, “at the hands of Western secret services,” Putin said at a meeting on Russia’s security situation, excerpts of which were broadcast on state television. He did not provide any evidence for the claim that the incident in the Muslim-dominated North Caucasus was allegedly controlled by foreign countries. The Ukrainians would try “to provoke pogroms in Russia under the leadership of their Western bosses,” Putin said. “Scum, there’s no other way to say it.”
In this context, the 71-year-old once again justified his own war of aggression against Ukraine. Those who are really fighting for truth and justice are Russia’s soldiers, said Putin, against whom an arrest warrant has already been issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
Against the backdrop of the Gaza war, there was unprecedented anti-Semitic violence in Makhachkala on Sunday evening, in which around 20 people were injured. An angry crowd stormed the city’s airport as a plane from Israel arrived there. Passengers reported being pelted with stones. The attacks caused international consternation.
Zelensky: Russia has again lost control of events
Ukraine, which has been defending itself against the Russian war of aggression for more than 20 months, has already rejected allegations from Moscow about its alleged involvement in the violence in Dagestan. President Volodymyr Zelenskyj confirmed that Moscow had lost control again. Russia has mobilized all its forces to hold the occupied Ukrainian territories, Zelensky said in his evening video address. “But in doing so, they have contaminated their own territory with such a level of hatred and humiliation that Russia is losing control of events for the second time this year,” said the Ukrainian head of state.
First, mutinous Russian mercenaries marched towards Moscow, said Zelensky, referring to the uprising in June by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has since died. And now it can be observed that the power of the authorities in Dagestan is dwindling, Zelenskyj continued. In recent months, representatives of the Russian leadership have repeatedly made anti-Semitic statements – directed, among other things, at Zelensky, who himself is of Jewish descent.