Officers in Moscow say unidentified hoaxers also penned terrifying letter

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Officers in Moscow say unidentified hoaxers also penned terrifying letters to 14 schools and two government buildings warning staff of bomb threats in their institutions over a time space of one day, according to TASS News Agency. Police said in a statement: “Over the last day in Moscow, unknown persons sent anonymous bomb threats to many bank branches. “Among them were offices of Sberbank, VTB and Raiffeisenbank. “In total, 707 branches of well-known banking organisations got them.”

More than 1,000 police in the city were deployed to the huge number of locations to rule to bomb threats, with more than 247 police vehicles having been used as a result. More than 4,435 people were evacuated during the huge investigation. No explosive items were found however.

Since December 2017, Russian security forces have disrupted several plots in major Russian cities, including Moscow, St Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Stavropol, with plots having targeted large crowds in public places. The current terror threat in Russia has been deemed high according to the Foreign Office, who said recent attacks have mainly been by Islamist and rebel groups in the North Caucasus. In the area, a large number of Western nationals have been kidnapped, wth some having been killed.

In April 2017, a suicide bomb exploded on the St Petersburg metro

Media representatives and particularly journalists have been targeted in North Caucasus, according to information from the Foreign Office. The department said: “Previous attacks, including in Moscow and St Petersburg, have seen large numbers of casualties, and Russian aviation has also been targeted.” In April 2017, a suicide bomb exploded on the St Petersburg metro which resulted in 15 deaths.