THE leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, ordered police to shoot protesters to discourage anti-Semitic attacks like the one in Dagestan earlier this week. The Russian news agency Ria Novosti reported that Kadyrov explained that anyone who participates in such riots he will be arrested and imprisoned.

Kadyrov told the Chechen police to drop first warning shots in the air to disperse participants in unlawful riots. If the rioters continue to break the law, police can shoot to kill, he clarified.

Chechnya and Dagestan are semi-autonomous Russian republics located in the North Caucasuswith the citizens to be Muslims in their great majority.

Like Moscow, Kadyrov blamed the West for the violence in Dagestan, where hundreds of rioters stormed the Makhachkala airport, attempting to lynch Jews who had arrived on a Russian Red Wings airliner from Tel Aviv. Government officials in Dagestan said more than 20 people were injured as a result of the violence at the airport, while 83 people were arrested.