Grigory Yavlinsky’s web-site, 2.11.2023

Photo by RFI

The attack on the Makhachkala airport by a crowd motivated by national hatred under anti-Semitic slogans, as well as anti-Semitic actions in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia – all these are the symptoms of a progressive serious illness of the state and society.

Against the backdrop of the 18 months long special military operation, discontent, fear, suspicion and hatred are growing in different social groups in Russia. The value of human life is decreasing.

The situation is aggravated by the condition of the media landscape and mass consciousness – uncritical consumption of information through social networks, formation of “information bubbles”, spread of fakes and the “post-truth” effect. In Russia, the situation is considerably worsened by the lack of platforms for free public discussion and transformation of television, radio, and online media exclusively into the tools of state propaganda.

All this creates powerful preconditions for manipulating mass consciousness through disinformation and provocations.

The prospects of growing mutual distrust between different ethnic groups in Russia and the threat of interethnic and interreligious hostility causes particular concern.

What happened in Dagestan on 29 October is not a problem of the Republic [of Dagestan] or the region. This is a threat on an all-Russian, a national level.

Interethnic and interreligious hostility, persecution based on ethnicity, dividing the country’s citizens into “us” and “strangers” manifests the shortest path to the collapse of Russia. The prerequisites for disaster are so significant that an explosion could occur in almost any region of our country. What we have observed in Dagestan is not merely a local episode, but an example of how quickly a large fire can flare up. It should be especially noted that local authorities and the law enforcement started to react to what was happening in Makhachkala only after the crowd began storming the international airport, although already the day before all signs of the escalation of the situation were obvious – up to loud calls to “go to the airport and meet the plane from Tel Aviv”.

A clear and explicit assessment of what has happened as an absolutely unacceptable criminal phenomenon must be given at all levels, including the head of state.

It is extremely important once again to prevent at the state level the lack of a legal assessment of attempts to organise interethnic pogroms, as was the case with another dangerous crime in our country – the armed rebellion in June of this year.

Authorities at all levels must do everything necessary to effectively investigate the anti-Semitic acts in accordance with the law.

It is obvious that what happened is largely the result of the policy of “manual control” that has long been carried out in Russia in the sphere of interethnic and inter-confessional relations, and only demonstrates the deadlock of this type of authoritarian policy. A real restoration of the rule of law is vitally necessary in the country in general and in the North Caucasus in particular.

In order to prevent interethnic conflicts, it is necessary to immediately seek ways to agree on a ceasefire in Ukraine and establish the rule of law in our country. It is necessary to find the direct organisers of provocations in the North Caucasus, and not shift responsibility to some abstract “hostile forces” abroad. It can be assumed with a high degree of confidence that the hidden initiators and instigators of the interethnic conflict in the North Caucasus were some motivated provocateurs and high-level representatives of regional authorities. To prevent the recurrence of such acts in the future, an immediate reaction from regional and federal authorities and law enforcement agencies to any, even seemingly insignificant signs of escalating mass hysteria and ethnic hatred, is needed.

By and large, to counter the main threats in Russia the following is needed:

– immediate agreement on a ceasefire so that people are not being killed in Ukraine;

– focusing the state’s efforts on preventing such internal threats as decline in living standards, vulnerability of citizens to the state and lack of basic civil rights, as well as such threats as the rise of dehumanisation, disunity and hatred in society;

– returning the opportunity for open public discussion, within the legal framework, of the key problems of the country’s life, free public discussion in the mass media;

– reorientation of law enforcement agencies to combat real threats to the life and health of citizens instead of looking for mythical “fakes about the army” and other repressions against those who disagree with government policies.

Source

Grigory Yavlinsky

is Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko, Vice President of Liberal International, PhD in Economics, Professor of the National Research University Higher School of Economics.