The Stavropol Regional Court has sentenced a Dagestan resident, Rabadan Ismailov, to 15 years in prison in absentia for his role in the mass unrest at Makhachkala Airport on October 29, 2023. This was announced by the Stavropol Krai Prosecutor’s Office.

In addition to participating in mass unrest (Part 2 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the man was found guilty of violating transport security requirements (Part 3 of Article 263.1) and attempting to take the life of a law enforcement officer (Article 317).

Ismailov is to serve the first three years of his sentence in a prison, with the remainder to be served in a maximum-security penal colony. The court also imposed a two-year restriction on his liberty following his release.

According to the prosecution, Ismailov joined the unrest "driven by national and religious hatred and hostility toward citizens of Israel" and refused to comply with the demands of law enforcement officers. The prosecutor's office did not specify the exact actions attributed to him during the riot.

The agency outlined the overall consequences of the attack on the airport: participants in the unrest damaged or destroyed property valued at over 24 million rubles. Illegal acts were committed against 30 government officials, 23 of whom sustained injuries. The prosecutor's office presented these figures as the aggregate outcome of the events, rather than as damage specifically attributable to Ismailov’s individual actions.

The mass unrest at Uytash Airport took place on the evening of October 29, 2023, against the backdrop of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip—which had begun three weeks earlier—and widespread protests over the deaths of Palestinian civilians. The immediate trigger was the spread of reports on social media regarding the arrival of a plane from Tel Aviv in Makhachkala, along with rumors that people arriving from Israel were being housed in Dagestan.

Hundreds of people gathered near the airport ahead of the arrival of the flight from Tel Aviv. Some of those present stopped vehicles and checked passengers' documents, attempting to determine whether any Israeli citizens were among them. Later, the crowd broke into the terminal and onto the runway, forcing the airport to cease operations.

These events took place against a backdrop of an extremely intense reaction in Dagestan to Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip. The day before the unrest, a similar incident occurred outside a hotel in Khasavyurt, following the circulation of unconfirmed reports that Israeli citizens were staying there. At the same time, calls were circulating on social media for people to gather at the Makhachkala airport.

More than 20 people, including law enforcement officers, were injured as a result of the unrest. Russian authorities classified the incident as mass rioting and subsequently launched a large-scale criminal prosecution of those involved. In total, more than 130 individuals have been convicted in connection with the pogrom at the Makhachkala airport, receiving prison sentences ranging from 6.5 to 15 years.

Russian investigators identified the organizers of the events as former State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev, Islamic preacher Israil Akhmednabiyev (also known as Abu Umar Sasitlinsky), and Abakar Abakarov, a former administrator of the Telegram channel "Utro Dagestan" (Morning of Dagestan).

All three were convicted in absentia and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 19 years. In October 2025, reports emerged regarding the killing of Abakarov in Turkey; a Russian court subsequently requested official confirmation of his death from the Turkish authorities. Ponomarev and Akhmednabiev have been placed on an international wanted list by Russia.