An anti-Jewish riot in Russia’s Dagestan region shows the risks of Putin’s balancing act on Hamas

Russian President Vladimir Putin prides himself as the leader of what he calls a “multinational, multiconfessional” Russia. And the republic of Dagestan is in many ways a microcosm of Russia’s diversity: The mountainous region is home to over 30 ethnic groups with distinct languages.

But the images of antisemitic rioters overrunning Dagestan’s Makhachkala Uytash Airport have shaken Russia’s Jewish community, stoked international outrage and raised serious questions about the blowback from Putin’s war on Ukraine – now in the Russian leader’s view directly linked to events in Gaza.

On Monday, the Kremlin leader held an extensive meeting to address the situation in Dagestan, where rioters – fired up by rumors that Jews and Israelis were aboard a Red Wings Airlines flight that landed Sunday from Tel Aviv – surged into the airport terminal and stormed the runway.

Members of the crowd outside the airport held signs that included slogans such as “We are against Jewish refugees,” and “There is no place for child-killers in Dagestan.”

According to Russian state news agency TASS, “those gathered oppose the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

Authorities said at least 20 people were injured and 60 people were detained. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said the incident “looked like a pogrom.”

The Israeli Prime Minister’s office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a joint statement on Sunday following the news, saying Israel expected Russian law enforcement “to safeguard the well-being of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they are and to take strong action against the rioters and against the wild incitement being directed against Jews and Israelis.”

In his remarks Monday, Putin called for law enforcement to take “firm, timely and precise actions to help protect constitutional order of Russia, rights and liberties of our citizens, the interethnic and inter-religious harmony.”

But the Kremlin leader also directed the finger of blame away from Russia.

“The events in Makhachkala last night were inspired through social networks,” Putin stated, insinuating that Ukraine and “the hands of Western intelligence agencies” had exploited emotions running high inside Dagestan over Israel’s relentless military campaign against Hamas in Gaza and rising civilian casualties.

“We can only help Palestine in the fight against those who are behind this tragedy,” Putin said, adding, “we, Russia, are fighting them within the framework of the Special Military Operation,” the official euphemism for Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

Such remarks require serious unpacking.

Since the October 7 Hamas attacks, Putin has played a delicate international balancing act, putting himself forward as a potential mediator and calling for restraint on both sides – a position that has won praise from Hamas.

And in his remarks on Monday, Putin made his most pointed critique of Israel to date, saying that “horrifying events” in the Gaza Strip “cannot not be justified” and added that “your fists clench and you get tears in your eyes” when you see photos of “bloodied, dead children.”