New Wave of Telephone Bomb Threats in Russia Again Forcing Evacuation of Key Facilities

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 12 – As if Russia did not have enough problems, another wave of telephone bomb threats there has forced the authorities to evacuate facilities in Russian cities over the last few days. Such “telephone terrorism,” as Russians refer to it, is in fact now so widespread that Regnum has created a special page on its portal to record specific cases (regnum.ru/news/accidents/3035857.html).

            Among the places where evacuations have occurred are at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, the Magnit stores, post offices, courts and police stations. As in the case of earlier waves of telephone terrorism in 2017 and 2019, hundreds of thousands of people are being inconvenienced (jamestown.org/program/telephone-bomb-threats-forcing-mass-evacuations-across-russia/).

            But those evacuations are only the tip of the iceberg as far as this problem is concerned. Not only are these threats frightening, but they highlight the inability of the powers that be to stop them or track down those responsible, thus increasing public skepticism about the authorities at a time when that is rising in any case.

            Second, the number is now so large that police and other siloviki units are being diverted from their normal tasks to carry out the evacuations, thus limiting their ability to fight crime, control protests, or engage in their own normal activities. Indeed, some of the calls may be being made by criminals with precisely that purpose in mind.

            And third, and most disturbingly, while all the calls so far have been fake threats, they create an atmosphere in which the authorities can take no chances because there is an all too real possibility that someone prepared to engage in real terrorism will plant a bomb in the expectation that the large number of such threats will provide cover.