Police detain Ukrainian for Czech and Slovak school bomb threats, Russian financing suspected

A Ukrainian man suspected of sending bomb threats to schools across the Czech Republic and Slovakia has been detained in a joint operation by Ukrainian, Czech, and Slovak police, officials confirmed on Wednesday. Authorities believe the suspect’s actions were likely financed by Russian actors.

According to the Czech Security Information Service (BIS), the man was apprehended in Ukraine on Tuesday. He is accused of emailing threats to hundreds of schools in the Czech Republic beginning in 2024. The BIS added on social media platform X that the suspect also targeted several other European countries.

“The detained individual’s activities were most likely funded by a Russian entity,” BIS stated, though no further details were provided.

The threats caused major disruption to the start of the school year in September 2024, affecting tens of thousands of students across both countries.

Slovak police, in a statement on Facebook, confirmed the formation of a joint investigation team among Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine. The suspect was arrested in the early hours in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, and authorities also carried out searches of multiple properties. Further information has not yet been released.

Western nations have increasingly warned of Russian-backed hybrid tactics involving sabotage, disinformation, and cyberattacks—claims that Moscow has consistently denied.

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