Mass evacuations occurred at schools, hospitals, and museums across nine Russian regions on Tuesday due to a series of false bomb threats.
Key facts
- •Evacuations took place across at least nine Russian regions on Tuesday.
- •St. Petersburg and Leningrad region police reported that more than 100 institutions received threats.
- •The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow was among the sites that closed or evacuated.
- •The threats occurred during Day of Knowledge celebrations marking the start of the school year.
- •Russian authorities have historically referred to these mass threats as 'telephone terrorism.'
A wave of false bomb threats forced mass evacuations at schools, kindergartens, hospitals, and museums across at least nine Russian regions on Tuesday. The incidents coincided with the Day of Knowledge, which marks the start of the academic year on September 1. Local officials and media reports confirmed that institutions in areas ranging from St. Petersburg to the Far Eastern Zabaikalsky region were affected.
Scope of the Disruptions
In the Leningrad region, Governor Alexander Drozdenko reported that a dozen facilities, including schools and hospitals, were evacuated. Police in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region informed the Fontanka news outlet that over 100 institutions received threats. In Moscow, at least four museums, including the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, closed or evacuated visitors citing technical reasons.
Regional Impact and Official Response
Beyond Moscow and the Leningrad region, evacuations were reported in the central republic of Tatarstan, the Ural Mountains, the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district, the Orenburg region, and the Krasnoyarsk region. Governor Drozdenko characterized the threats as an attempt to disrupt the holiday for children and adults. The Kremlin has previously labeled such incidents as 'telephone terrorism,' a phenomenon that has occurred periodically in Russia for years.
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This article was independently rewritten by ManyPress editorial AI from reporting originally published by The Moscow Times.
