The Telegram social media platform has blocked the Utro Daghestan channel, days after an angry mob shouting anti-Semitic slogans stormed the airport in the Daghestani capital, Makhachkala.
On October 28 and 29, the Utro Daghestan channel, which had earlier been connected to Kyiv-based Russian opposition politician Ilya Ponomaryov, published numerous reports that "refugees from Israel" were being settled in the Muslim-majority Russian North Caucasus region and calls to seize the airport.
On the night of October 29, a mob of more than 1,000 people descended on the airport seeking to prevent passengers arriving on a flight from Israel from entering the city. More than 20 people were injured and dozens were arrested.
It was not clear whether any Israeli citizens were on the plane that arrived from Tel Aviv or whether any passengers were among the injured.
The RIA Novosti news agency reported on October 30 that more than 60 people were detained at the airport.
In addition to Utro Daghestan, Telegram closed several dozens other channels that contained direct calls to violence against Palestinians and Jews as part of its regular moderation activities, a Telegram spokesman said in an e-mail to RFE/RL. The content violates Telegram's terms of service, spokesman Remi Vaughn said.
Vaughn said Telegram took down the Utro Daghestan channel as part of the larger effort "because it published direct calls to violence against Jews arriving in Daghestan, as well as personal data and addresses of religious leaders with the aim of inciting violence."
Daghestan’s leader, Sergei Melikov, wrote on Telegram on October 31 that the airport had been fully reopened.
In a statement on October 30, the head of Russia's Federation of Jewish Communities, Rabbi Aleksandr Boroda, said the incident "undermined the basic foundations of our multicultural and multinational state."
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Jews 'Afraid' After 'Attempted Pogrom' In Daghestan
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington condemned the incident, adding at a briefing with reporters on October 30 that the storming of the airport "looked like a pogrom to me" in videos of the incident that he had viewed.
"We call on Russian authorities to publicly condemn these violent protests, to hold anyone involved accountable, and to ensure the safety of Israelis and Jews in Russia," Miller said.
Anti-Jewish protests have broken out in several cities in the region in the face of Israel’s war with Hamas, rulers of the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip and designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and EU.
The Kremlin blamed the unrest on "outside interference," and Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on October 30 that "the criminal Kyiv regime played a direct and key role in carrying out the latest destructive act."
Ukraine rejected the accusation, saying that the Russian Foreign Ministry was attempting to "shift responsibility from a sick person to a healthy one."
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko added on Facebook that the events in Makhachkala "reflect deep-rooted anti-Semitism of Russian elites and society."
Israel's ambassador to Ukraine, Mykhaylo Brodskiy, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that his government had "no information" to support the Russian government's claims.
Brodskiy added that Kremlin assertions that Nazis and anti-Semites hold power in Kyiv -- a point they used in justifying Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 -- were "complete delusion."
The United States also rejected the Russian accusation about Ukrainian involvement. "I've seen their comments about blaming Ukraine. They are absurd," Miller said.
The Utro Daghestan channel is part of a network of regional-news Telegram channels spanning Russia that was set up by Ponomaryov's opposition group.
In comments to Current Time on October 30, Ponomaryov said his group had not had any connection with the channel for several months and condemned the Daghestan airport attack.
The same day, Utro Daghestan also wrote that it was no longer connected with Ponomaryov, a former Russian State Duma deputy who was the only one to vote against Moscow's 2014 seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region.
However, in August Ponomaryov called Utro Daghestan "our channel" in an interview with Ukrainian media. In September, he referred to it as a part of his wide-ranging activities against the government of authoritarian Russian President Vladimir Putin.