Footage reportedly from the scene shared on local Telegram channels showed rioters chanting “Allahu Akbar” and stopping cars in order to check the documents of passengers to ensure they were not Israeli or Jewish. The Russian state-owned RIA Novosti outlet reported that police officers and the National Guard were present at the scene while the riots took place and that the airport had been closed due to the entry of rioters to the airport.
In Khasavyurt, also located in Dagestan, rioters gathered at a hotel where Israelis who had fled the fighting were reported to be staying, with some of the rioters entering the hotel and only leaving after ensuring that no Israelis were in the hotel.
They’re Russians in imperialist name only.
They are Dagestani, from Dagestan, which is a one of the several subjugated Muslim majority Caucus states within the Russian federation, like Chechnya.
I’m not saying this to draw any ethnic or religious connections, just providing a slight, but important detail to this story.
If we want to be even more proper, they’re Avars, Lezgians, Nogais, Tabasarans, and so forth. Dagestan is a very culturally and linguistically diverse region. Its name means “land of mountains”, which is just about the only trait that all the peoples in the region share.
(also, Cauc-as-us, or Caucasia or even Kavkaz if you prefer. No relation to “caucus”. Sorry if that’s pedantic.)
Jewry in Dagestan has existed for many centuries as well, though post-USSR a majority of Juhuro — the Jews of Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus — have now immigrated to the United States and Israel. We can only assume specifically to escape the economic woes and growing ethno-religious strife that came with the last lowering of the red flag.