Anonymous Bomb Threats Cause Evacuations Across Russia
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — A series of anonymous bomb threats phoned to authorities in cities across Russia has prompted evacuations at schools, shopping malls, theaters, and universities since September 11.
Some regional media in Russia quote local police as saying the evacuations have been linked to drills, but other reports quote officials who have said the evacuations are the result of anonymous bomb threats.
Security officials reportedly have evacuated people from scores of buildings in Chelyabinsk, Magadan, Yekaterinburg, Stavropol, Ufa, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Ryazan, Bryansk, Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Vladivostok, and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
Authorities in Perm canceled classes at schools across the city after anonymous callers phoned in bomb threats at the mayor’s office, seven schools, and a train station.
Reports from the Siberian city of Surgut say armed men in military uniforms have been stopping vehicles to carry out searches.
There was no official announcement from Russian security officials about the vehicle checks.
