Airport stormed by anti-Israel: what is the Russian region of Dagestan?

2023-10-30 01:25:15

Religious tensions, caused by the war in which Israel and Hamas have been engaged for several weeks, suddenly resurfaced this Sunday evening in a Ciscaucasian Russian republic. Dozens of men stormed the tarmac and terminal of the airport in Makhachkala, capital of Dagestan, for several hours, apparently looking for passengers on a flight from Israel.

The Minister of Information of Chechnya, the neighboring republic, Akhmed Dudayev, had called earlier in the day on Telegram for calm in the face of rising tensions in the Russian Caucasus, and to avoid “provocations”. What is Dagestan, “land of mountains” where pro-Palestinian populations let their anger be heard?

Climate of violence

Dagestan, a poor and agricultural region of approximately 50,000 km2 populated by some 3 million inhabitants, borders Azerbaijan, Georgia and Chechnya. Like the latter, Dagestan – previously under Soviet rule – has been part of the twenty-two federated republics that make up Russia since 1991.

The country, whose population is predominantly Muslim (nearly 85%), predominantly Sunni Shafiite of Sufi tradition, has long suffered from a reputation for instability and a climate of violence. In 2007, Dokou Oumarov, a Chechen warlord wishing to establish sharia law throughout the North Caucasus, established a “Caucasus Emirate” close to Al-Qaeda, giving rise to an increase in anti-terrorist operations which would have the effect of the Islamist organization, notably to secure the Sochi Olympic Games in 2014, tells Orient XXI.

In 2016, the country, then a bastion of Islamist guerrillas, provided the Islamic State group with its largest Russian-speaking contingent. In 2018, Vladimir Putin placed Abdoulaïevich Vassiliev, a non-Muslim, at the head of Dagestan, with the aim of restoring order on the security level. While terrorism has already been on the decline for several years, it is creating, under the aegis of Moscow, structures to prevent radicalization and carrying out repatriations from Syria.

Russian influence

Unlike its Chechen neighbor, and despite the latter’s attempts to destabilize it at the end of the last century, Dagestan has never expressed secessionist wishes towards Russia, due in particular to the diversity of its population, made up of around thirty ethnic groups and languages. The small Caucasian republic, undermined by endemic corruption since the fall of the USSR, represents for the Kremlin – which finances it almost entirely – a strategic zone on a military level, including the Kaspiisk naval base, the one of the most important for Russia in the Caspian Sea.

But its population is not necessarily inclined to mindlessly serve the interests of the Kremlin. In September 2022, the “partial” mobilization triggered by Vladimir Putin as part of the invasion in Ukraine gave rise to violent clashes between demonstrators and police officers, in the capital Makhachkala and in other localities. “Our children are not fertilizer” or “no to war”, chant the Dagestanis, who do not wish to act as cannon fodder, according to an article in the Monde.

Wrestling emblem

In a completely different register, Dagestan is also one of the largest breeding grounds for mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, a sport which is becoming popular in Europe. And one of the most legendary athletes in this discipline comes from Dagestan: Khabib Nurmagomedov has become an emblem of his country – evidenced by his nickname, “The Eagle”, symbol of the federated Russian republic, and the Papakha, a headdress traditional style that he wears before each fight.