Bomb alert in Moscow
In Moscow this afternoon there were anonymous bomb threats to numerous shopping centres, cinemas, railway stations and hotels. According to the Russian news agency Interfax, there was a wave of anonymous phone calls with threats. As a precaution, over 10,000 people were evacuated from the buildings concerned.
Such a wave of threats had already occurred in Russia last September. At that time, 1.4 million people were affected. The Russian intelligence service FSB identified "Russians abroad" as the perpetrators. The Russian authorities are reacting very cautiously to all bomb threats since an attack in the St. Petersburg subway in March 2018 caused 18 deaths and countless injuries.
Also affected is the Cosmos Hotel, where the Aeroflot Open started today. Round 1 had to be stopped after 45 minutes because of the bomb threat.
According to unconfirmed information from Moscow tomorrow a double round (rounds 1 and 2) will be played.