Russia has beefed up security in the Muslim-majority North Caucasus region after the massive anti-Semitic riots over the weakened.
The decision was taken following an emergency meeting held between President Vladimir Putin and top security officials on Monday evening.
The Kremlin did not provide additional details of the meeting, except saying that the deliberations focused on strengthening measures to counter external interference.
It did not disclose what those measures were, but Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed head of Chechnya, was reported to have issued an order to shoot and kill anyone trying to riot in his Muslim-majority republic, which borders Dagestan.
Later in a speech on TV, Putin blamed the Western agents for the riots, saying, “The events in Makhachkala last night were instigated through social networks, not least from Ukraine, by the hands of agents of Western special services.”
Sporadic protests caught authorities off-guard
On Sunday, swam of rioters in the southern Dagestan region stormed an airport on Sunday to “catch” Jewish passengers arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv.
The sporadic nature of the protests had caught the authorities off-guard as it took them hours to regain control of the airport in Makachkala
More than 20 people were injured and at least 80 were detained. The incident was condemned by Jewish leaders who equated the incident to Tsarist-era pogroms.
The attack came in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war which has left the Jewish and Muslim communities divided all over the world.
Meanwhile, Israel has warned its citizens to leave the northern Caucasus in the wake of the riots.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry and National Security Council warned its citizens to immediately leave the place and called on “all Israelis staying abroad to exercise vigilance, and stay away from demonstrations and protests, and obey the local security forces in case they get caught up in the incidents.”
Prominent rabi’s rare rebuke against Russian officials
It also raised its travel warning level to 4, the highest level, calling on citizens to avoid all travel to Dagestan and neighbouring regions, and for those who are there to leave as soon as possible.
On Tuesday, a prominent rabbi in Russia, Boruch Gorin, slammed the Russian authorities over the antisemetic riots calling the incident an “eternal disgrace.”
Gorin, a journalist, publisher and spokesperson for Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, said on Facebook, “Shocked [at what happened] at the international airport. Has the republic not yet been renamed Hamastan?”
(With inputs from agencies)
