The head of the Russian Republic of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, has called on the participants in the antisemitic riotsin Makhachkala to “wash away the disgrace” fighting in the war in Ukraine and has accused Kyiv of being behind the protests.

“I feel ashamed for yesterday’s events. (…) If any of the participants in the riots want wash away disgrace by enlisting in a battalion of volunteers or signing a contract with the Army, I will greet him,” Melikov told Russian public television.

At the same time, he has assured that the public order violators They will not be sent to the area of ​​military actions if they do not want it, as some commentators have suggested, since “that is not practiced.” “People who carry out military tasks in the interest of our country must do so consciously,” he assured.

Hundreds of people took over the Makhachkala airport and its landing strip this Sunday after organizing on Telegram channels to go to the airport before the arrival of flights from Israel. They searched flights and cars for Israelis and Jews, protesting the conflict between Israel and the armed wing of the Islamist group Hamas.

Melikov has Kyiv accused of stirring up these anti-Semitic protests in Dagestan, which has resulted in more than 60 detainees. “Our enemies, detractors of our country, are carrying out attempts to destabilize the situation in Dagestan, including the use of prohibited methods related to incitement to ethnic hatred and interreligious problems,” he asserted.

According to Melikov, one of the Telegram channels in which the call to go to rallies was published is managed from abroad. “Today we received absolutely reliable information that the Dagestan Mornings channel is managed and regulated from the territory of Ukraine,” he noted.

Among the twenty injured caused by the riots at Makhachkala airport are nine police officers, two of whom had to be hospitalized. According to the department of the Ministry of the Interior for the North Caucasus federal district, more than 150 participants in the disorders have so far been identified.