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Hoax bomb threats hit European flights and broadcasters for a third day, NATO orders air patrol
RTÉ in Dublin was evacuated and flights were diverted or escorted by fighter jets on Friday. No explosives have been found, and no country has formally blamed anyone.
Key points
- A wave of hoax bomb threats disrupted European air travel for a third straight day on Friday, November 6.
- Staff at Ireland's RTÉ were evacuated and emailed threats also reached broadcasters in Bulgaria and Britain.
- NATO ordered an air patrol near the Hungarian-Romanian border, the first reported involvement of the alliance.
A wave of hoax bomb threats against European passenger flights and news organisations ran into a third straight day on Friday, forcing evacuations, diversions and military escorts. No explosives have been found, every aircraft has landed safely, and no government has formally named a culprit.
In Dublin, staff at the public broadcaster RTÉ left its Donnybrook campus after a threat, and armed police searched the buildings. RTÉ first replaced live programmes with recorded ones and then restored news through backup arrangements. The Irish Independent group and the offices that house the radio stations Newstalk and Today FM were also cleared. Prime Minister Micheál Martin said police and the Defence Forces were working to identify those responsible and had not established whether one person or a coordinated group was behind it.
The emails to broadcasters in Ireland and Bulgaria came from a sender calling themselves “Mikhail Andropov”, under the heading “Message to the West”. They presented the threats as the start of attacks on transport across Europe. Bulgaria’s Nova TV and Britain’s Sky also received threats. The sender’s identity and any link to the flight threats have not been verified.
Flights across the continent
Roughly six flights were disrupted on Tuesday and more than two dozen on Thursday. On Friday Czech police logged threats against nine flights to or from Prague, though the airport said none was cancelled. A Wizz Air flight from Prague to Rome was diverted to Venice, where passengers were taken off and the aircraft checked. France reported four fresh threats against aircraft in its airspace. In Copenhagen police said threats were aimed at air traffic but posed no apparent danger to passengers, and the airport said it was operating normally.
Hungary’s Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said fighter jets escorted airliners from Brussels to Sofia and from Prague to Bucharest and Cyprus through Hungarian airspace. NATO ordered an air patrol near the Hungarian-Romanian border, the first reported involvement of the alliance.
Who is suspected
Emails sent to airports in Rome and Sofia carried the name of “Male State”, a far-right movement banned in Russia. Its founder, Vladislav Pozdniakov, denied any role and said the group ceased to exist in 2021, adding that others were using its name.
Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said it “cannot be mere coincidence” that similar incidents were happening across Europe, calling them “hybrid aggression and a form of psychological warfare”. EU technology commissioner Henna Virkkunen said Europe had faced sabotage, drone incursions, cyber breaches and election interference since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and that the aim was “to destabilise our societies and create mistrust among our citizens”. European officials have increasingly pointed at Russia for such campaigns, which Moscow denies.
Security experts say the pattern looks like a coordinated attack, though copycat threats or personal motives cannot be ruled out.