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New Bomb Threats Force Evacuations at a Dozen Moscow Malls

Sergei Kiselyov / Moskva News Agency

At least 12 shopping centers in Moscow have been evacuated after receiving anonymous bomb threats, a year after a wave of hoax bomb scares prompted mass evacuations throughout the country.

More than a million people in 170 Russian cities were evacuated from malls, schools, train stations, airports and government buildings between September and October 2017. Security services said at the time that Russian nationals based in a foreign country were suspected of the anonymous phone calls that led to mass panic.

Up to 12 major malls, including Atrium and Kapitoly, were evacuated on Wednesday, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoted an unnamed Moscow emergency service official as saying.

The official said an evacuation was also underway at Kievsky train station.

An unnamed source told Interfax that more than 4,000 people had been forced to evacuate so far.

Multiple bomb threats also caused bars and restaurants to be evacuated in the city of Rostov-on-Don during the World Cup in June.

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