Schools in Montenegro Evacuated Over False Bomb Alarm

Montenegrin police on Friday warned about an unknown person spreading panic after several schools were evacuated over a false bomb alarm.

Interior Ministry official Zoran Miljanic said three schools in the capital, Podgorica, and one in the town of Bijelo Polje were evacuated, calling on citizens not to panic.

“Montenegrin police, the Interior Ministry and the prosecutor’s office are doing everything necessary to find the perpetrator. Their goal is to alarm the public and spread panic,” Miljanic told the daily Vijesti.

“We believe the same person or organization is behind today’s emails and the case of a bomb report in Budva, from Sunday”, he added.

On Friday, media reported that an email signed by Vladislav Pozdnyakov, the founder of a Russian ultra-nationalist online group, “Male State”, had been sent to the government, Interior Ministry and Podgorica city hall, demanding a change of government and in the National Security Agency, AMB, or “all schools will be blown away”.

While police evacuated the “Marko Miljanov” school in the northern town of Bijelo Polje, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport said that school principals had taken all necessary measures and children were safe.

One of the leaders of the pro-Serbian Democratic Front, Milan Knezevic, accused authorities of reacting poorly to security threats in the country.

“The general disarray and silence in the security sector oblige me to urgently schedule a session of the parliament’s Defence and Security Committee. Whoever is behind these false bomb alarms must be arrested,” Knezevic posted on Twitter.

On March 27, police evacuated a shopping mall in the coastal town of Budva after a false bomb alarm, and on March 29, a block in Podgorica was evacuated after a false alarm about a bomb planted allegedly in one of the houses.

On March 30, the daily Pobjeda reported that Pozdnyakov had told the National Security Agency that a bomb would be activated in the resort of Budva if the media don’t report more positively on the Russian invasion on Ukraine.

But Pozdnyakov on Friday posted on Telegram that he had nothing to do with the false bomb alarms, and that someone was misusing his name.

He accused the head of the National Security Agency, Dejan Vuksic, and rights activist Aleksandar Zekovic of presenting him wrongly as a threat to Montenegrin security.

“I didn’t send that email and I am not capable of such a vile or childish act. I have a thousand enemies, and after I started supporting the [Russian] special military operation [in Ukraine], those enemies have multiplied by ten, especially among the Ukrainian community,” Pozdnyakov said.

On Thursday, Montenegrin police said they were taking measures to secure the safety of rights activist Zekovic after he received online threats from Pozdnyakov.

On February 14, Pozdynakov posted a video on Telegram saying he was now living in Podgorica. He also posted photos of the Montenegrin resorts of Perast and Budva. Police later reported that Pozdnyakov had left Montenegro, however.

Pozdnyakov first left Russia after receiving a two-year suspended sentence for inciting hatred toward women in 2018. The sentence was later overturned, but in 2019, four members of his group were convicted of extremist activities.

“Male State” has focused on trolling, harassing and threatening anybody they deem an opponent of “national patriarchy”, particularly women.