Slovakia Receives Over 1K Bomb Threats

Facts

• An unidentified perpetrator sent bomb threats to over 1.1K institutions, including schools, across Slovakia on Tuesday. The threats prompted widespread evacuations and deployment of law enforcement teams, including canine units and bomb disposal experts.¹
• The deputy head of police, Rastislav Polakovic, said that the officials are investigating the act 'as a particularly serious crime of terrorist attack.'²
• The threatening emails began arriving at schools as early as 5 or 6 a.m. local time. According to Polakovic, 1K threats were directed at educational institutions, and more than 100 targeted banks.³
• The content of the threats is yet to be revealed, but according to TV reports, they have been sent from a Russian email address.¹
• In 2019, hoax bomb threats were sent to nearly 700 Polish schools allegedly by perpetrators who logged into the accounts used by the Russian military intelligence service.⁴
• This comes after the country's newly elected prime minister, Robert Fico, vowed not to provide any further military supplies to Ukraine in its resistance against Russia's invasion.¹

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²Barrons, ³Türkiye Newspaper and ⁴American Spectator.

Narratives

• Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by https://english.nv.ua/. This event is deeply concerning. Prime Minister Fico has dangerously cozied up to the Kremlin. Despite opposition Fico is veering Slovakia on the path to tilt to Moscow and limit support for Ukraine. Russian meddling in Slovakian society is a risk as Moscow yields more influence over the Eastern European nation.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by RT. It's premature to blame Russia for disruptions in Slovakia — they could even be simple pranks. Moreover, it's the West that can be seen as essentially meddling in Slovakian politics by potentially cutting funding as punishment for Fico's warming of relations with Moscow. The EU's bullying of Fico's foreign policy must be closely monitored.

Predictions