In Nizhny Novgorod, shopping centers and train stations are being evacuated. "mining" in Russian cities was carried out by "Ukrainian cyber troops" It is known about the evacuation of people in more than ten cities of Russia
Director of the Russian FSB Alexander Bortnikov said that the organizers of large-scale mining of buildings throughout the country have been identified. We are talking about four Russians who are now abroad. According to Kommersant, participants in the investigation suspect that supporters of the Islamic State (IS; banned in Russia) are behind the unprecedented action.
According to Mr. Bortnikov, the organizers of the action were four citizens of the Russian Federation who are now abroad. They had accomplices inside Russia. To transmit messages about mining, the attackers used IP telephony. After checking the calls, security forces found out that they came from at least several dozen countries. By requesting assistance from the intelligence services of other states, FSB officers were able to clarify where exactly the attackers were located. According to some reports, some of the calls came from Belgium. However, due to certain difficulties in negotiations and the length of time it took to transfer requests between law enforcement agencies, it has not yet been possible to detain anyone.
The FSB director did not specify whether the suspects are members of any terrorist community. According to Kommersant's sources, the investigation is inclined to believe that they could be supporters of the IS banned in Russia. Moreover, the attack launched by extremists was developed due to the fact that so-called imitators decided to take part in it - mostly juvenile hooligans and inadequate people.
It should be noted that in Russia separate criminal cases were initiated for each incident of telephone mining. Subsequently, they were united in each region. For example, in Moscow, a criminal case is currently being investigated regarding almost 200 reports of bomb threats, due to which several hundred thousand people had to be evacuated. These are mainly school and college students, hospital patients and visitors to other social institutions. The fact is that, in accordance with the law, when receiving threats from such institutions, evacuation is mandatory. At the same time, visitors to business centers, for example, are taken outside if their security service cannot guarantee that a call about an alleged bomb will not be followed by a real explosion.
Alexander Bortnikov estimated the damage from such evacuations at 300 million rubles.
Omsk
Calls about mining of buildings in Omsk began to arrive on the evening of Sunday, September 10 - the single voting day. Around midnight, during the vote count, evacuate the election commission. The city administration building received a message about mining. Also in the city, visitors to three cinemas and two shopping centers were evacuated.
“The calls were from the European part of the country,” writes Om1. “It is possible that everything that happened could be part of a large-scale exercise initiated by the special services on the eve of Felix Dzerzhinsky’s birthday.”
Permian
In Perm, more than 5,700 people were evacuated due to reports of explosive devices, the Ministry of Territorial Security of the Perm Territory told Interfax. The department clarified that the police and the National Guard are currently inspecting buildings with dogs, and students from evacuated schools, accompanied by their parents, were sent home. All classes have been cancelled. The police also evacuated the building of the Perm administration, the department of property relations, several shopping centers and schools, 59.ru reports.
Krasnoyarsk
People are being evacuated from several shopping centers in Krasnoyarsk, Prospekt Mira writes, citing eyewitnesses. The police press service told the publication that they had received reports of “suspicious objects” in different areas of the city. An inspection is underway.
Magadan
In Magadan, after reports of mining, two cinemas, several schools, universities and a market, people were evacuated, RIA Novosti reports, citing a representative of the FSB department in the region.
The calls arrived at the dispatch service within a few minutes of each other. The Nagaevsky and Gornyak cinemas, the Urozhay market, the Polytechnic Institute and other buildings were evacuated.
Chelyabinsk and Kopeisk
Calls about mining of large objects in Chelyabinsk and Kopeisk were received through services IP-telephony, reports the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Messages were received on September 11 from 20 to 23:30 at the duty station. In total, 10 objects were “mined”.
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
In Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, several shopping centers, the city hall building and the government house of the Sakhalin region, as well as the railway station were evacuated, writes sakhalin.info. According to the publication, calls are received automatically.
Vladivostok
The police department in Vladivostok is evacuating after reports of mining of “a number of objects” in the city, RIA Novosti reports citing the press service of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“The police received reports of mining a number of objects in the city of Vladivostok. Police officers are currently conducting an investigation. The identity of the caller is being established,” police said.
It is not yet clear whether these messages are related to each other.
Several people have been detained in criminal cases involving deliberately false reports of terrorist attacks, Kommersant reports. According to the publication, among those detained were teenagers who were not associated with the people who organized the massive telephone attack in Russia.
“So far, only a few false terrorists have been detained, who, however, turned out to be so-called imitators who reported mining attacks after learning about a massive telephone attack in the media and social networks,” the newspaper writes.
On Wednesday, in Volokolamsk near Moscow, a 17-year-old local resident was detained for “mining” the Sports Palace by telephone. A criminal case has already been initiated against him under Article 207 of the Criminal Code. In addition, the publication writes, there are detainees in other Russian cities. The cases are not yet connected and are being investigated by regional police units.
The detainees, unlike the organizers of the action, used regular phones. It is known that during the telephone attack, many messages about mining came from abroad, using special means of Internet telephony and various instant messengers.