Newsroom bomb threats follow escalating European flight hoaxes

A police car parks outside Copenhagen Airport as police investigate threats directed at air traffic in Copenhagen on Friday. | REUTERS

Reuters

Nov 8, 2026

BUDAPEST/DUBLIN/PRAGUE – Newsrooms in Ireland and Bulgaria received emailed bomb threats on Friday from a purported “Mikhail Andropov,” claiming responsibility for a widening wave of hoax threats disrupting passenger flights across Europe.

The messages, sent to Bulgaria’s Nova TV and the Irish public broadcaster RTE, which evacuated its offices and suspended programming, were headlined “Message to the West” and portrayed the threats as the prelude to a series of attacks on means of transport across Europe. The British broadcaster Sky also said it had received a security threat.

But they added to concern among European officials that the hoaxes are part of a campaign of “hybrid” disruptions, which many have blamed on Russia, aimed at countries that have helped Ukraine. Moscow has denied involvement.

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