MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/. A bomb alert in Moscow’ Bolshoi has proved to be a hoax, the theater told TASS on Sunday.
"The theater is working as usual," told a spokesman of the theater.
The emergency services said that the search revealed nothing suspicious.
Three specially trained police teams with sniffer dogs were searching Bolshoi’s building after more than 3,500 people had been evacuated due to a bomb scare.
At 19.00 Moscow time (16.00 GMT) the Hammer and Sickle concert, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, was to have begun in the Bolshoi’s Beethoven Hall.
Apart from this, a bomb alert was proved to be a hoax at the GUM department store in Red Square.
"At least 2,500 customers and 30 staff had been evacuated from the department store which later resumed work," a source said.
Earlier, about 30 facilities in Moscow, including shopping malls, cinemas, restaurants and cafes, were targeted by bomb threat calls.
Since September 11, a downpour of phone calls has hit Russian cities and towns. Emergency services have searched secondary and higher schools, shopping malls, airports, railway stations, hotels and governmental buildings. More than one million people were subject to evacuation as safety precautions from over 2,600 facilities in 170 cities and towns. Criminal cases have been opened into numerous bomb alert hoaxes in Moscow and other Russian cities.