Reuters saw in the threats about bombs in Europe hint of the Secretary General of the USSR

Emails with bomb threats received by the Irish broadcaster RTE and the Bulgarian TV channel Nova TV were signed with the name “Mikhail Andropov”, reports Reuters.

The agency notes that the name of the alleged sender coincides with the name of the former General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Yuri Andropov, and the title of the message – “Message to the West” – refers to the title of his biography “New Challenge to the West”.

Yuri Andropov headed the KGB of the USSR from 1967 to 1982, after which he replaced Leonid Brezhnev as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. He ruled the Soviet Union from November 1982 until his death on February 9, 1984. He was 69 years old. Prior to that, in 1954-1957, he served as Ambassador of the USSR to Hungary.

Arnold Beichmann and Mikhail Bernstam, Andropov: A New Challenge to the West. Andropov: New Challenge to the West: A Political Biography was published in 1983. In it, the authors challenged the notion of Andropov as a pro-Western leader, pointing out that he held rigid political views and considered Western democracies indecisive.

According to Reuters, the author claimed in threats that he was one of the leaders of the group responsible for false reports of bombs on passenger planes in Europe this week. “We want the world to know about us, so one of our operatives planted an explosive device in your building. It'll explode in 45 minutes. Time has gone, the agency quotes the contents of the letter.

In addition, the sender warned of new incidents, saying "this is just the beginning." “What happened this week is only a small part of what Europe is looking forward to in the near future,” the report said.

After receiving threatening emails, staff at RTE in Dublin and Nova TV in Sofia were evacuated. The broadcasting of the Irish broadcasting company was interrupted: some programs were replaced with music and a pre-recorded message for up to three hours. The Bulgarian TV channel continued its work.

After inspections, police found no explosive devices at any of the sites. RTE employees returned to their jobs after surveying the buildings for more than three hours.

Responding to the incident, Irish Prime Minister Mihol Martin said that European intelligence agencies have not yet established whether the senders of threats are acting alone or as part of a coordinated campaign. "It only illustrates how it is relatively easy to cause disruption and undermine the normal functioning of society through unconventional actions of this kind that are designed to cause disruption, fear and anxiety," he said, adding that it was necessary to "keep calm.".

In Europe, there have been three waves of reports of bombs aboard passenger planes on November 3, 5 and 6. They led to route changes, emergency landings and security checks.

The first affected at least seven flights, including those bound for Warsaw and Rome. Due to threats, airports temporarily restricted their work, and fighter jets escorted them. During the second wave, on November 5, at least 27 flights were threatened, Reuters estimated. The next day, Czech police checked nine planes after threatening letters, with four flights reported in France. Explosive devices were not detected, senders of threats are installed.

At the same time, according to Italian agencies ANSA and Adnkronos, the emails with bomb threats on several flights in Europe were written on behalf of the group “Men’s State” (recognized as an extremist organization and banned in Russia).