Wave of evacuations in many Russian cities due to anonymous bomb threats
For three consecutive days, Russia has been receiving bomb threats. People are being evacuated from train stations, schools, universities, administrative buildings, shopping centers and cinemas across the country.
The first city to receive a barrage of bomb threats was Omsk. On the evening of September 10, unknown persons reported that bombs had been placed in the Omsk administrative building. Police inspected the building, but did not find any dangerous objects.
Regional elections were held in Russia on September 10.
Reports on explosives continued to arrive on the night of September 11. Unknown persons said that bombs had been placed in several cinemas and shopping centers. Early in the morning on September 11, the Omsk city hall received more phone calls with bomb threats. Major hotels, markets, schools and departments of the Russian Pension Fund were evacuated.
There were evacuations in several other major Russian cities on September 11 and 12 due to anonymous phone calls. Hundreds of buildings across the country had to be evacuated. Bomb threats were received regarding train stations, schools, universities, administrative buildings, shopping centers and theaters in Moscow, Ryazan, Perm, Stavropol, Vladivostok, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Magadan, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Bryansk and Ufa.
In several cities, multiple facilities were evacuated. For example, 56 buildings were evacuated in Omsk, and 42 in Stavropol.
The total number of people evacuated across Russia is still unknown, but in Omsk alone there are reports of 7,000 people being affected. In several cities the evacuations are still continuing.
Russian law enforcement authorities have been unable to establish who is behind the bomb threats. However, the departments in several cities have said that telephone terrorists are responsible for the evacuations.
According to a RIA Novosti source in the Russian law enforcement agencies, the bomb threat phone calls are coming from Ukrainian territory, according to provisional information.