John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the White House, has called it telling that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not condemned the anti-Jewish riots at the airport in the city of Makhachkala, Dagestan [a federal subject of the Russian Federation – ed.].

John Kirby described to Voice of America the anti-Semitic actions in Makhachkala, where a crowd of protesters against Israeli actions broke into the airport to find Israelis, as a "chilling demonstration of hate, bigotry and intimidation".

"I think you all saw what happened in Dagestan, Russia yesterday in what can only be described as a chilling demonstration of hate, bigotry, intimidation. Some people have compared it to the pogroms of the late 19th and early 20th century, and I think that's probably an apt description, given that video that we've seen out there," Kirby said.

Kirby believes it speaks volumes that the Russian president has not condemned the violence in Makhachkala.

"Local provincial officials certainly came out pretty swift to condemn this mob, and I heard within the last hour or so that apparently Mr Putin has decided to have some sort of meeting with his security officials. But outside of that, we've heard crickets from the Kremlin: nothing, no condemnation, no calling for a stoppage of hate, discrimination, bigotry towards Jews, nothing, and I think that speaks volumes," Kirby noted.

Commenting on Putin's claims that Western countries and Ukraine were behind the events in Dagestan, Kirby noted that this was "classic Russian rhetoric".

"It’s classic Russian rhetoric, isn’t it? When something goes bad in your country, you’ll just blame somebody else, blame it on outside influences. The West had nothing to do with this; this is just hate, bigotry, and intimidation, pure and simple. And a good leader, a decent leader would call it out for what it is, the way President Biden has called it out in this country instead of blaming the West for something," Kirby stressed.

On Monday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller rejected Russia's claims that Ukraine was involved in anti-Jewish violence the day before at the airport in Makhachkala, Dagestan.

On Sunday, 29 October, anti-Semitic protesters broke into the airport in Makhachkala (Dagestan, Russia) and tried to board a plane from Tel Aviv, looking for Jews and letting Russians through.

The European Commission condemned the anti-Jewish riots in Russia's Dagestan. NATO believes that these riots are disadvantageous to the Kremlin and are one manifestation of the radicalisation of Russian society.