Russia claims Dagestan protests result of 'planned external provocation’ by Ukraine

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – Moscow claimed on Monday that the protests at an airport in the Russian Republic of Dagestan were the result of a "planned external provocation” by Ukraine.

“The mass riots … that occurred in the Republic of Dagestan are the result of a planned and carried out external provocation aimed at undermining the harmonious development and ethno-confessional unity of the people of the Russian Federation,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a written statement published by the ministry.

She further claimed that the protests were inspired by “those who have repeatedly resorted to openly extremist and terrorist methods in order to destabilize the internal political situation in Russia.”

She went on to say that the quickness of the statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following the events and their content are “direct evidence that the information sabotage undertaken by Kyiv’s intelligence services is coordinated.”

“It is significant that in calls for unrest, resources associated with the fugitive provocateur Ilya Ponomarev, (a Russian-Ukrainian politician) who had previously repeatedly defiantly declared his desire to cause damage to the Russian Federation, were seen,” she added.

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.​​​​​​​