‘It felt like an eternity’

Passenger on flight from Tel Aviv to Russia’s Dagestan speaks to Mediazona about anti-Semitic riot at Makhachkala airport

On the evening of October 29, a crowd of rioters stormed the Makhachkala airport and runway after a flight landed from Tel Aviv. Rioters waved Palestinian flags and chanted anti-Semitic slogans. One of the flight’s passengers told Mediazona what they saw. While the passenger gave her statement under anonymity, the outlet says they have the airline tickets and documents confirming her identity. With the permission of Mediazona, Meduza is publishing a translation of the text.

My family and I got a flight to Moscow via Makhachkala one week before departure, since we had a family emergency. It was cheaper to fly through Makhachkala and the layover was shorter. We heard the news on the way to the airport.

Before departure, while waiting to board, they reported that there was a malfunction, which caused a delay. Airline workers asked whether we have Israeli citizenship, and said that we’re flying partially at our own risk. I’m not sure what their exact words were. The flight was a bit delayed because of that. The plane was half empty.

We arrived [in Makhachkala] without any problems and got through the jet bridge without any issues. A guard was waiting [there]. Airport security was divided into people in uniform and those who you wouldn’t call anything else other than “looking like civilians.”

[They] waited to escort us separately, the situation was getting heated right in front of our eyes. At first, they wanted to take us through a “green corridor.” But there wasn’t enough time. Literally one woman went through the metal detector and X-ray, and they sent everyone outside to the bus.

There were around 20 of us, a few under 30 [people], no more. Many families. Just like the official sources say, there was a child on a ventilator.

The bus was very chaotic, all of us with our suitcases, children. It took a long time for the driver to be able to close the backdoor. It’s not clear whether he could see or not, whether he was afraid everyone was on board or not, but they were yelling loudly for that door to be closed.

He was initially taking us to a plane going to Moscow, but as we drove, a crowd ran after us. We drove for quite a while, but the people didn’t get tired and were running behind our bus. They ran with the Palestinian flag, yelling, “Brothers, brothers!”

People on the bus yelled out to them that we’re Russian, showing our red passports, yelling which cities we’re from: Ufa, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Moscow. Almost everyone was Russian, but many had dual passports. There was one person from Israel who didn’t speak much Russian.

At one point, the bus stopped and they surrounded us. They threw rocks and broke the glass. They were banging on the windows. It was very, very scary. I didn’t see everything since I was sitting in the aisle, and not by the windows. We covered part of the windows with dark curtains.

It felt [like] an eternity, and people outside didn’t listen to what was being said to them. They heard, but they were ignoring it. It was very scary.

At some point, a fire truck was following us. There was no police in sight, but the fire truck came. As if it was preparing in case we would need to be extinguished. [It was all] a bit of a blur. I sent my friends and partner voice messages telling them how much I loved them.

Then they took us to a VIP lounge in the airport. It was more like a two-story VIP building. For a while, they tried to divide us into groups: people going to Makhachkala and people going to other cities.

Somehow, the people in Makhachkala were mixed in with the crowd, and they managed to escape. At least that’s what I heard one of the people responsible for our security say. Out of those who were with us, almost no one was in uniform.

At first, they hoped that those going to Moscow would be able to get on the plane, while others would be given accommodation in the city while they wait. They ushered us to the second floor, we sat hiding from the windows. I couldn’t see how many people were downstairs protecting us, since we were above them.

The crowd was behind a fence — as those who saw it say. We sat there for a very long time. They made a list of everyone there. They photographed our passports. At one point, a group from the crowd was allowed to come to us. [State Duma deputy] Khizri Abakarov, who acted as a negotiator, went up to our floor with this group, with an assistant, I think. Three or four people, no more. They were shown passports and residence permits. They did not reach us on the second floor.

There were many siloviki [security officials] in front of us before we left for the helicopter, but I wouldn’t be able to say when they appeared in the building. At the moment the group of locals came up to us, there was no security. None at all.

[Then], they gave [us] something to drink, eat.

Much later they said, “Helicopter.” They separated us from the luggage, [saying that the luggage] “will come later.” They put everyone on the first bus, told us to duck down, and one of the women said she was told not to take pictures. I didn’t take pictures, but I saw a huge crowd.

The bus driver was again unable to close the middle door. I don’t know what’s up with them. This is where there were sounds of guns and automatic [weapons]. I think it was the security and military [personnel] ensuring that our bus could reach the helicopter. We were loaded into it like sardines. That’s how we got to the military base near Makhachkala.

At the military base, we were told to turn off our phones, and then they took them all away. They gave us a sheet, pillowcase, and rooms for two. Water and rations, which are a separate story altogether. The rooms, too. What can you do, [it’s a] military base.

Those who could, went to sleep. Wake-up call at 6:30 a.m., cold pizza for breakfast. They gave us back our phones, but they said not to take them out of the makeshift envelopes. They put us on two helicopters, 15 people each, so that the luggage would fit, and we flew together to Mineralnye Vody.

In Mineralnye Vody, there was a strange understanding of the situation at the helicopter area of the airfield. As if, despite the lists, endless photos, and almost half a day that had passed since the situation at the airport began, they didn’t realize that we weren’t going to Mineralnye Vody and we needed to go home. Reissuing the tickets took time, and we were pressed for time with our family [situation].

We quickly got tickets on our own, the earliest Aeroflot flight. Since we were the most urgent, they put us into a minibus and drove us to the departures hall and registered us. We sat in the VIP lounge. Almost everyone else us joined us after. We were waiting for the same flight as them.

Text by Mediazona

Translation by Sasha Slobodov