(MENAFN- The Peninsula) AP
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin called a meeting of security and law enforcement officials on Monday, the day after a mob stormed the airport in the southern region of 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, according to Russian news reports.
More than 20 people were injured, with two in critical condition, Dagestan's Health Ministry said. The injured included police officers and civilians, it said.
At least 60 people were detained in the unrest, the local Interior Ministry said. It was not clear if charges were filed against any of them, but Russia's Investigative Committee said it opened a criminal probe on charges of organizing mass unrest.
Russia has issued carefully calibrated criticism of both sides in the war between Israel and Hamas, a conflict that is giving Moscow new opportunities to advance its role as a global power broker and challenge Western efforts to isolate it over Ukraine.
The crowd that rushed onto the tarmac on Sunday night surrounded the jet belonging to the Russian carrier Red Wings with seemingly little resistance from the police, Russian news outlets reported.
Video and photos on social media showed some in the crowd waving Palestinian flags, and some trying to overturn a police car.
Some in the crowd, which also was seen roaming the terminal, examined passports of arriving passengers, apparently in an attempt to identify those who were Israeli. The riot was later broken up.
The Makhachkala airport resumed operations at 2 pm Monday, Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said, adding that flights from Tel Aviv to Makhachkala and Mineralnye Vody, a city in the neighboring Stavropol region, will be redirected to other cities.
Russian carriers Red Wings and Azimut operate flights between Tel Aviv and the cities of Makhachkala, Mineralnye Vody and Sochi in southern Russia. All three cities are located about halfway between Tel Aviv and Moscow; Russian independent news site Mediazona quoted a passenger of the Tel Aviv-Makhachkala flight as saying that she was flying to Moscow and had a layover in Makhachkala, which was cheaper than a direct flight to the Russian capital.
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.”
Dagestan Gov. Sergei Melikov said there would be consequences for anyone taking part in the violence and wrote on Telegram that the scene at the airport was "outrageous and should receive an appropriate assessment from law enforcement agencies!”
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