Grigor AtanesianBbc Verify

Oct 30, 2023 | bbc.co.uk | Olga Robinson |Maria Korenyuk |Grigor AtanesianBbc Verify |Grigor Atanesian

On Sunday morning, details of a flight arriving later that day from Tel Aviv were posted on a popular channel on Telegram in Dagestan, a diverse region in the most southerly point of Russia. The channel on the social media platform was called Morning Dagestan (Utro Dagestan). It urged its followers to "meet the unexpected visitors" at Dagestan's main airport, in Makhachkala. The flight would arrive at 19:00 local time.