Czech secret service blames Russia for school bomb threats

Czech secret service chief Michal Koudelka on Monday pointed the finger at Russia for a flurry of recent bomb threats against schools in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

At the beginning of September, hundreds of Czech and Slovak schools received alerts that kept the institutions closed for several days while police investigated. None of the threats materialized, with no evidence discovered of explosives around the areas.

Koudelka condemned cyberattacks on Czech institutions at a conference on Russian sabotage against Europe at the Czech parliament on Monday.

“Operations in cyberspace are also related to direct attacks on entities in our country … for example, the September threatening emails about the placement of explosives targeting a number of schools in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, behind which there is also a clearly visible Russian trace,” he said.

“We are witnessing a kind of globalization of evil, where the countries of the axis of evil — Russia, China, Iran and North Korea — support, complement and help each other achieve their goals. We are therefore witnessing a phenomenon that is very serious and dangerous,” said Koudelka.

The Czech Republic has witnessed multiple attacks carried out by Russian intelligence agents over the years. In 2021, the country expelled 18 Russian diplomats over a 2014 deadly blast after Czech intelligence presented the evidence that Russia was behind the attack.

In June, the Czech authorities blamed Russia for a failed arson attack at a bus depot.

The Czech Republic also remains on high alert for school safety following a university shooting in Prague in December 2023 that left 14 dead and 25 injured.