Support The Moscow Times!

Moscow’s Record Wave of Bomb Hoaxes Continues Into 2020

Bomb hoaxes have intermittently plagued Russia since late 2017. Valery Sharifulin / TASS

More than 50,000 Muscovites have been evacuated in 2020 so far in the latest wave of bomb threats after more than 1 million evacuations last year, Interfax reported Tuesday.

The New Year’s holidays provided a brief respite from the bomb hoaxes which have intermittently plagued Russia since late 2017. A record 1.1 million have been evacuated from Moscow’s schools, hospitals, courthouses, metro stations and airports since Nov. 28, Bloomberg reported on New Year’s Eve.

More than 40,000 people were evacuated on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10 alone, an unnamed source familiar with the matter told Interfax on Monday. On Tuesday, the source said around 10,000 people were evacuated the previous day.

The threats that turned out to be hoaxes targeted at least 2,800 buildings since the start of 2020, the news agency reported.

These include around 100 schools, which reportedly began receiving threats on Jan. 8 but did not evacuate anyone because it was not a school day.

Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior was also targeted for the 10th time since Nov. 28, Interfax reported Tuesday.

“We’re dealing with cyberterrorism here,” lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein told Bloomberg on Dec. 31.

Although television coverage has somewhat died down since the 2017 epidemic, Khinshtein said Russian security services explained the problem to lawmakers in closed briefings.

The source of the calls that prompted the mass evacuations in the Russian capital has still not been established.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysiss and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more