Mikhail Gutseriev wrote a column about the unrest in Dagestan – Kommersant

Russian businessman and owner of the Safmar group Mikhail Gutseriev wrote a column for “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” about the riots at Makhachkala airport on October 29, in which he called for the punishment of their participants. In the text of the column, Mr. Gutseriev notes that he is Ingush by nationality, and called the Caucasus a place of “unity of all peoples and religions.”

“Everyone involved in the events at the airport must bear a well-deserved punishment if they turned their priceless freedom into arbitrariness,” the businessman wrote. He said the unrest has “economic and social consequences” because the region will need money to rebuild the airport. According to Mikhail Gutseriev, the tourism industry of Dagestan, in which “huge amounts of money” have been invested, has also come under attack.

In the column, Mr. Gutseriev wrote that in the Caucasus, Jews for centuries lived “hand in hand” with Dagestanis, Kabardians, Ossetians and other peoples. The region, he said, has always remained “a zone of tolerance and peace.” Local residents heard about anti-Semitism mainly “from relatives who came from other regions, newspaper articles and books,” added Mikhail Gutseriev. Russia, according to the billionaire, “has no future without interethnic and interfaith harmony.”

On the evening of October 29, a crowd of protesters broke into Makhachkala International Airport and entered the runway. Videos were published online showing rioters conducting an “inspection” of the passports of arriving passengers in order to find Israelis among them. The Department of the Investigative Committee for Dagestan opened a criminal case on mass riots (Article 212 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). 15 detainees were placed under administrative arrest, two were sentenced to 60 hours of compulsory labor.

More details in the text “Kommersant” “Dagestan is beyond suspicion”.

Petr Buzlaev