Vladimir Putin has hit out at Western ‘scum’ who he accuses of seeking to ‘instigate pogroms’ in Russia after an anti-Semetic mob rampaged through Dagestan.
The Kremlin leader was two hours late for a meeting with his leading military and security henchmen in which the dictator blamed foreign interference for the ugly scenes at a regional airport when the mob hunted for Jews arriving by plane.
Citing no evidence, he accused Ukraine and Western intelligence services of being behind the hate-filled uprising in Makhachkala, capital of Dagestan region.
Russia has made 83 arrests over the airport incident which left children screaming in fear and passengers fearing for their lives.
In a rambling diatribe, a grim-faced Putin told his subordinates that the West was the ‘root of evil’ in the world. His were later echoed by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who accused the US of ‘upholding its global dominance by any means.’
Vladimir Putin (seen on Monday in Moscow during a meeting with top security and law enforcement officials) has hit out at Western ‘scum’ who he accuses of seeking to ‘instigate pogroms’ in Russia after an anti-Semetic mob rampaged through Dagestan
People are seen storming Dagestan international airport. Russia has made 83 arrests over the airport incident which left children screaming in fear and passengers fearing for their lives
‘I never cease to be amazed by the Kyiv regime and their overseas masters,’ he told an impromptu meeting of his security council at his in Novo-Ogarevo official residence near Moscow.
‘We know they have already raised […] Hitler’s henchmen on a pedestal, we know and see how the leadership of Ukraine applauds the Nazis of the Second World War, who were responsible for the victims of the Holocaust [and] personally took part in these crimes…
‘Today, under the leadership of their Western patrons, they are trying to instigate pogroms in Russia.’
He claimed Western political elites may not be aware of the way their secret services are allegedly inflaming and exploiting the crisis in Israel and Gaza.
‘It would be good if those who worry so deeply about citizens of Israel, to investigate what their special services are up to in Ukraine, in that they are trying to provoke pogroms in Russia,’ said Putin.
‘Pure scum, there is no other word for it.’
His comments echoed the charges he lays against Ukraine of being a ‘Nazi state’ that he has frequently used to justify his invasion of the coiuntry.
This is despite the far-right – let alone neo-Nazis – enjoying very little support in Ukraine, and despite the fact President Volodymyr Zelensky being Jewish.
Putin told his acolytes that the West was directly responsible for mayhem around the world – including the current Middle East war and the conflict in Ukraine.
‘Behind the tragedy of the Palestinians, the massacre in the Middle East, the conflict in Ukraine, many other conflicts in the world – in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and so on, are the ruling elites of the United States and their satellites,’ said Putin.
‘One needs to know where the root of evil is, where is this very spider, which is trying to entangle the entire planet, the whole world with its web, and wants to achieve our strategic defeat on the battlefield [and] uses people fooled by it for decades on the territory of today’s Ukraine.’
People are seen swarming across the tarmac at Dagestan international airport as they hunted for Jewish people arriving from Tel Aviv
People in the crowd walk shouting anti-Semitic slogans at an airfield of the airport in Makhachkala on Sunday night and the early hours of Monday morning
The mob is seen at the Dagestan airport with a plane on the tarmac
Passengers were locked inside the plane for their safety, and several arrests were made by Russian police
Putin portrayed himself as singlehandedly standing up against this supposed evil.
‘By fighting precisely this enemy in the Special Military Operation [Russia’s euphemism for war against Ukraine] we – I want to stress one more time – are strengthening the positions of all those who are fighting for their independence and sovereignty,’ he said.
‘The events in Makhachkala were inspired, including through social networks, partially from the territory of Ukraine, by the hands of the Western intelligence agencies.’
According to his implausible version, thousands of men from Dagestan seized control of Makhachkala airport based on a few social media messages which he claims originated from Ukraine and were choreographed by Western secret services.
Putin regularly blames the West for Russia’s problems, and there are signs Moscow was caught off guard by extreme actions from a mob which had no links to the dictator’s political foes.
Russia’s defense minister also accused the United States on Monday of fuelling geopolitical tensions to uphold its ‘global dominance by any means’.
He warned of the risk of confrontation between nuclear-armed countries.
Speaking at a defense forum in Beijing, Sergei Shoigu also accused NATO of trying to expand its footprint in the Asia-Pacific under the pretense of seeking dialogue and collaboration with regional countries.
‘Washington for years has deliberately undermined and destroyed the foundations of international security and strategic stability, including the system of arms control agreements,’ Shoigu said at the Xiangshan Forum, China’s biggest annual event centered on military diplomacy.
He added that the US and its Western allies are threatening Russia through NATO’s expansion ‘to the east.’ Shoigu also reiterated Moscow’s stance that Russia was open to negotiations about the war in Ukraine under what he described as the right conditions.
‘The Western line of steady escalation of the conflict with Russia carries the threat of a direct military clash between nuclear powers, which is fraught with catastrophic consequences,’ he said.
Citing no evidence, Putin (left) accused Ukraine and Western intelligence services of being behind the hate-filled uprising in Makhachkala, capital of Dagestan region
The rising support for Hamas in the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus had been clear in advance yet caught the Kremlin off guard, reported The Moscow Times.
‘The situation was heating up every week. Everyone in our country knew about this—in the Kremlin, the FSB, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs,’ a regime official told the media outlet.
One theory is that there was advance intelligence of the Makhachkala mob, but officials were scared to tell Putin, worried he did not want more bad news.
This culminated in real fears of a massacre of passengers arriving from Tel-Aviv.
They were forced to show their documents to prove they were not Israeli, said reports.
‘Almost everyone around me is confused. This is a pure repetition of Prigozhin’s rebellion,’ a Cabinet source told The Moscow Times.
A Kremlin official with a law enforcement background told the respected news outlet that this had been ‘an emergency on a national scale.’
‘This is a failure of everyone – the curators of domestic policy in the Kremlin, the intelligence services and local authorities,’ he said.
The source surmised that the intelligence services knew of the threat of such a mutiny but were afraid to inform Putin.
‘Everyone is afraid to be alarmists and warn the president about problems in advance,’ he said.
This follows a succession of military failures and setbacks in his war in Ukraine, and consequent economic problems in Russia.
But former Putin speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov said the ‘pogrom’ in Dagestan was due to Russia cooling its relations with Israel while embracing Iran.
The Islamic Republic is supplying Moscow with key arms including drones and missiles for use in its war with Ukraine.
Russia had adopted ‘a clear anti-Israeli position. In the Middle East, Russia has turned into another Iranian proxy. It is not visible as an independent player. There are Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis – and Putin’s Russia, separated by commas.’
The mutineers in Makhachkala believed they had a green light from Putin’s propagandists for their lawlessness, he said.
Warlord Ramzan Kadyrov ordered police in his Chechnya region – next door to Dagestan – to shoot protesters who staged a similar uprising.
Destroyed buildings are seen in Gaza as smoke billows from the northern part of the strip as a result of Israeli shelling, as seen from Sderot, southern Israel, October 31
‘Make three warning shots in the air and after that, if the person does not fulfil the requirement of the law – make the fourth shot in the forehead.
‘They will not come out again. This is my order.’
Close Putin ally Kadyrov is the most senior official in Chechnya.
Washington has warned Israel’s enemies – in particular Iran-allied groups – not to become more fully involved after a series of attacks across the region.