“This Was a Pogrom”: Russia Sentences 135 in Brutal Dagestan Airport Riot Targeting Jews
Russian courts have imprisoned 135 people for their involvement in a 2023 antisemitic riot at Makhachkala airport, where a mob targeted Israeli passengers amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. The sentences, ranging from 6.5 to 15 years, follow a surge in regional antisemitism, with three organizers still wanted.
On July 18, 2025, Russian courts sentenced 135 individuals to prison terms ranging from 6.5 to 15 years for their roles in a violent antisemitic riot at Makhachkala International Airport in Dagestan on October 29, 2023. The mob, incited by Telegram posts claiming “Jewish refugees” were arriving, stormed the airport as a Red Wings flight from Tel Aviv landed, amid escalating tensions over Israel’s war with Hamas, sparked by the group’s October 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages.
Videos showed hundreds of mostly young men, some waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Allahu Akbar,” smashing glass doors, storming the tarmac, and demanding passengers’ passports to identify Jews or Israelis. Some held signs reading, “Child killers have no place in Dagestan,” reflecting anger over Israels war against Hamas in Gaza.
No passengers were harmed, and approximately 30 Israeli nationals were sheltered in the airport’s VIP lounge before being evacuated by helicopter to another airport for onward travel, as confirmed by then-Israeli Ambassador Alexander Ben Zvi. The riot, which injured 20 people, including nine police officers, prompted a temporary airport closure until November 6, 2023. Three alleged organizers, linked to the Telegram channel Utro Dagestan, remain at large and are on Russia’s wanted list. The Russian Investigative Committee charged the convicted with mass rioting, transportation safety violations, and incitement of hatred, among other crimes.
Dagestan, a Muslim-majority region in Russia’s North Caucasus, has faced rising antisemitic incidents since the Israel-Hamas war began. On October 28, 2023, a mob searched a Khasavyurt hotel for “Jewish refugees,” and in June 2024, Islamic State-linked terrorists killed 22, including 15 police officers, in attacks on a synagogue and church in Derbent, burning the synagogue to the ground. Social media posts on X condemned the airport riot, with one user stating, “This was a pogrom, plain and simple, Russia must answer for letting it happen.” The Kremlin blamed “external interference” from Ukraine and the West, a claim dismissed by Ukrainian officials.