A Terrorist State with a Cult of Violence

Events in Dagestan show that Russia is developing a culture of hatred towards other peoples.

On 29 October in Makhachkala, a crowd of aggressive men attacked a plane returning from Israel with refugees on board. There were calls to commit violence, and the intervention of security forces prevented the public execution of Israelis who arrived in Russia. In the context of the systemic crisis in Russia and the Kremlin's inability to control security in the regions, Russia is becoming a threat to humanity - a sanctuary of terror, violence and totalitarianism.

Anti-Semitism has historically been an endemic phenomenon in Russia - pogroms against Jews took place during the time of the Russian Empire. But the events in Dagestan have become a kind of litmus test for the growing cult of violence in Putin's Russia. The day after the attempted pogrom, the Kremlin habitually accused the West of instigating the incident - the absurdity of this statement proves the strategic impasse in which Russia finds itself. It doesn't matter whether the pogroms in Russia are spontaneous or inspired by the central or local authorities. In all cases, Moscow will do everything to show the West the vicious side of Russian regions that cannot be allowed to be free, and to justify their further repression.

Further uncontrolled processes in the Russian Federation pose a direct threat not only to Russian Jews, but also to all countries bordering or located near Russia. Russian propaganda consistently voices hateful rhetoric that leads to manifestations of hatred on interethnic and interreligious grounds.

Under such circumstances, sanctions and complete international isolation of the terrorist state are a logical response to its crimes. Russia has turned into a common threat to the entire civilised world, which must be combated by collective efforts.