Kremlin says Dagestan airport protests are result of ‘outside interference’

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Protests that erupted at Makhachkala airport in the Russian Republic of Dagestan on Sunday were the result of “outside interference,” the Kremlin said on Monday.

“It is well known and obvious that yesterday’s events around the Makhachkala airport are largely the result of outside interference, including information influence from outside,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists in a press briefing in Moscow.

Peskov said that it is “very easy for ill-wishers to abuse the situation, provoke it, excite people” especially in light of footage on the clash between Israeli forces and the Palestinian group Hamas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin "received and is receiving" detailed reports on the situation in Dagestan from local authorities and government agencies such as the country’s Federal Security Service and the National Guard, Peskov said.

Earlier, Russia’s Investigative Committee said that participants in the protests are being interrogated and that searches are being carried out at the residence of those involved.

Late Sunday, several hundred people gathered at the Makhachkala airport to protest the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They broke into the airport’s international terminal and landing area after the arrival of a regular flight from Tel Aviv and were looking for passengers from the flight, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

Following the incident, authorities in Dagestan announced that the airport was temporarily closed.

Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency later declared that operations at Makhachkala airport will resume on Tuesday morning.