The security and protection services of the Trinity Cathedral and the surrounding area took such security measures that absolutely ruled out the reality of the call about a terrorist act, the State Security Service told InterpressNews.

The agency explained why citizens were not warned about two anonymous calls about terrorist acts made to the Security Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

For information, the State Security Service recently released a statement that “On March 22 of this year, at approximately 2:30 p.m., two anonymous calls were made to the Security Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs about terrorist acts. The author of the calls said that he was in the vicinity of the Trinity Cathedral, armed with a firearm and had mined the territory of the Trinity Cathedral. He said if evacuation did not occur within the next 20 minutes, an explosion would be carried out. In order to cover his tracks and complicate his identification, the initiator of the calls changed his voice with appropriate software, used a virtual telephone number of a foreign country and hid his IP address.

As a result of comprehensive operational-search and investigative actions, yesterday evening we were able to identify a minor person and conducted investigative actions with him. Several mobile phones, laptops and other items important to the case were seized as avidence.

The minor admits to the crime.

The minor is charged with making a false report about terrorism under Article 331 of the Criminal Code, which provides for a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 3 to 6 years.

The State Security Service and its Counter-Terrorism Center have all the conditions, including modern technical means, to detect and identify such criminal acts. Therefore, we warn everyone that we will take strict legal action against each such fact,” reads the statement.