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Renewed bomb scare triggers evacuation of Moscow, St. Petersburg courts

Earlier, in a similar bomb threat email, the perpetrator demanded a cryptocurrency ransom, saying St. Petersburg’s bridges were booby-trapped with explosives

© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

January 21, TASS. Courthouses in Moscow and St. Petersburg are being evacuated over bomb threats once again, the court press services told TASS. Five courts in Moscow and at least six in St. Petersburg were cleared out Tuesday.

Earlier, in a similar bomb threat email, the perpetrator demanded a cryptocurrency ransom, saying St. Petersburg’s bridges were booby-trapped with explosives. The culprit threatened that the evacuations would take place twice a day now.

"The Gagarinsky, Chertanovsky, Zelenogradsky, Scherbinsky and Ostankinsky district courts have been evacuated," the Moscow City Court’s press service said.

"The Petrodvortsovy, Oktyabrsky, Primorsky, Leninsky, Krasnogvardeysky, Kuybyshevsky district courts are being evacuated," the St. Petersburg united court press service added.

The bomb scare wave erupted in November 2019 with anonymous perpetrators emailing bomb threats to courts, schools, shopping malls and colleges. All threats were checked by bomb squads, but not a single one was deemed to be genuine.

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