DISINFO: Riots at Makhachkala airport fomented by Ukrainian services to destabilise Russia
SUMMARY
The riots at Makhachkala airport were fomented by Ukrainian services via the Utro Dagestan Telegram channel.
Russian officials have exposed this Ukrainian intelligence project designed to foment unrest, sow discord among the peoples of Russia and incite ethnic hatred to destabilise civil peace in Russia.
RESPONSE
Conspiracy theory not backed by any evidence, aiming to frame Ukraine as responsible for the antisemitic riot in the Makhachkala airport in Dagestan. The Kremlin has blamed “external forces” and Dagestani governor Sergey Melikov pointed to “Ukrainian traitors and Banderites”, but nothing indicates that Ukrainian or any other foreign intelligence services had anything to do with the mob that stormed the airport on 29 October 2023.
According to Russian independent site Mediazona, the protests were prompted by calls spread in Telegram channels such as “Utro Dagestan”, which Russian opposition figure Ilya Ponomarev helped to create. Ponomarev, currently exiled in Ukraine, affirms that he cut ties with the channel over one year ago.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Ukrainian troops might want to attack Hasidim pilgrims in Ukraine, that Ukraine plans to destroy another hydroelectric power station to blame Russia, that Kyiv is preparing a chemical provocation to divert attention from Ukrainian Nazis' crimes, or that Ukraine nationalists are planning false-flag operation in Transnistria / Moldova.