Schools in at least nine Russian regions received bomb threats on the first day of class

On the first day of classes across at least nine Russian regions, bomb threats were received by schools, kindergartens, hospitals, and other institutions, according to The Insider's tally. These incidents were reported in Leningrad, Perm, Kemerovo, Orenburg, Tatarstan, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Altai, Zabaykalsky, and Krasnoyarsk regions.

Some locations were evacuated, yet no explosive devices were discovered as of the publication time. The Leningrad Region governor, Alexander Drozdenko, described the situation as an "information terrorist attack," alleging the "enemy" aimed to induce panic and disrupt the annual Knowledge Day, which marks the beginning of the school year.

The origins and orchestrator of these threats remain unidentified. In Tatarstan, healthcare centers received anonymous emails around 8:00 a.m., leading to a partial evacuation of hospitals that resumed operations post-inspection. The Altai Krai saw patients and staff evacuated from a regional diagnostic center, with the anti-terrorism commission receiving numerous threats against various institutions.

Authorities in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug confirmed post-inspections that none of the threats were viable. Similar bomb threats against schools, kindergartens, and hospitals were also reported in Perm Krai, Kemerovo and Orenburg regions, as well as Zabaykalsky and Krasnoyarsk krais. No evidence has emerged publicly suggesting that these geographically dispersed threats originated from a single sender or group.

Several museums in Moscow suspended operations, with the Pushkin Museum closing for four hours, the Museum of the East halting its main building's access until 1:00 p.m., and the Museum of Moscow ceasing visitor admission until 2:00 p.m. These institutions cited "technical reasons" or "reasons beyond our control" for the closures, making no official link to the bomb threats.

Russia has witnessed such mass dissemination of false threats before, notably in February 2020 when over 1,500 sites in Moscow, including schools, hospitals, courts, and metro stations, received bomb threats. Despite the lack of discovered bombs, around 8,000 people had to be evacuated. In 2020, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office ordered Roskomnadzor to block Protonmail after the FSB accused its servers of being used to send threats to 830 sites.

Previously, the FSB had blacklisted the Startmail service, claiming it was used for over 1,000 bomb threat emails targeting more than 16,000 sites. As of now, Russian security agencies have not identified the parties responsible for this latest wave of bomb threats.