ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — The Russian president’s spokesman said Saturday the administration had been told about 60 hoax phone calls claiming 50 bombs had been planted across St. Petersburg, including in the way of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motorcade.
"There were 60 phone calls that claimed some 50 explosive devices had been planted at different sites, including on the presidential motorcade’s route and at the sites that president was to visit in St.Petersburg," Dmitry Peskov said.
The president travelled to the northern Russian city of St.Petersburg on Friday to take part in a cultural forum. Peskov said the president’s security service acted on the threats but their precautions did not affect Putin’s schedule.
"This was done from abroad… These people are phone pranksters, phone terrorists or whatever they are called. Of course, they will be found sooner or later," the spokesman added.
A wave of anonymous phone calls has led to massive evacuations across Russia in the past months. All of them have proven to be false alarms. Oleg Baranov, the chief of the Interior Ministry’s Moscow Office, said this Tuesday that most of the calls came from Japan, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States.
