Attempts by Russia to accuse Ukraine of involvement in the events in Dagestan, where a crowd broke into the airport building in search of "refugees from Israel" after a flight from Tel Aviv landed, are an attempt to shift responsibility, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko.
"Threats to kill Jews are the result of Russian state propaganda, which has been cultivating a sense of hatred for other peoples among Russians for decades. Recall that not so long ago, President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov made offensive anti-Semitic statements," Nikolenko wrote on Facebook.
He emphasized that the events in Makhachkala reflect the deep-rooted anti-Semitism of Russian elites and society.
"The accusations of the Russian Foreign Ministry against Ukraine of involvement in the events in Dagestan are an attempt to shift responsibility from a sore head to a healthy one. We are deeply convinced that the international community must respond decisively to manifestations of racial hatred in Russia and anywhere in the world," Nikolenko summarized.
The riots began on October 28 in the Dagestan city of Khasavyurt, when a crowd of locals came to the Flamingo Hotel demanding that "refugees from Israel" who were allegedly staying there be evicted.
On October 29, local Telegram channels began to spread reports that a "direct flight from Israel" was arriving in Dagestan. Some messages called on people to come to the airport and prevent the plane from landing.
As a result, the crowd broke into the airport building, ran onto the tarmac and tried to storm one of the planes.
Police officers initially did not intervene in the incident, and a few hours later, the Russian Guard arrived at the airport.
The Investigative Department of the Russian Investigative Committee for Dagestan opened a criminal case under the article on mass riots (212 of the Criminal Code). Peskov said that Putin would hold a meeting in connection with the situation.
The head of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, called the riots "an attempt to destabilize the situation" in the republic. According to him, what was happening was supervised from abroad, including through "pro-Ukrainian Telegram channels."