On October 30, Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that the mass riots that took place in the [Federal] Republic of Dagestan are the result of a provocation planned and carried out from outside, aimed at undermining the harmonious development and ethno-confessional unity of the people of the Russian Federation.

According to Zakharova, they are inspired by those who have repeatedly resorted to openly extremist and terrorist methods to destabilise the internal political situation in Russia. "In the realization of another destructive action, the direct and key role was attributed to the criminal Kyiv regime, which in turn acted by the hands of egregious Russophobes settled there. The promptness of Zelenskyy's statements and publications, as well as their content, are direct evidence that the information sabotage undertaken by the Kyiv security services is coordinated. It is significant that in the calls for riots were seen resources associated with the fugitive provocateur Ilya Ponomarev [Russian-Ukrainian politician who was a member of the Russian State Duma from 2007 to 2016], who has previously repeatedly defiantly declared his desire to harm the Russian Federation," the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"The intensification of the sabotage and subversive work of the Ukrainian security services in the direction of Russia is quite understandable," she noted. "The Kyiv regime is currently maximally interested in destabilizing the situation in Russia and discrediting it in the international arena against the background of the world community's fading attention to the crisis around Ukraine," Zakharova added. According to her, the prompt and unequivocal response of the Russian leadership and the coordinated, clear and proportionate actions of domestic law enforcement agencies are a clear answer to all those who hope to sow confusion and discord in Russia.

"National unity is one of the pillars of our country's development. As Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a recent meeting with representatives of religious associations, 'inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony is the basis of Russian statehood. Anything else, any other position, has an anti-Russian orientation and component'. The Russian Federation will continue to play a stabilising role in international affairs, including in the Middle East settlement, relying on mutually respectful relations with all states in the region in order to achieve the settlement of disputes and conflicts on the basis of civilised dialogue," Zakharova concluded.

On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukrainian and Western security services of organising the unrest at Makhachkala airport. The president said there were attempts to destabilise and divide Russian society from outside, including with the help of sophisticated technologies.

"The events in Makhachkala were inspired, including through social networks, not least from the territory of Ukraine by the hands of agents of Western special services," Putin said. According to him, Kyiv is trying to inspire pogroms in Russia under the leadership of Western patrons.