Airport in Russia's second-largest city briefly evacuated because of a bomb threat

The Pulkovo airport in Russia's St. Petersburg was briefly evacuated on Tuesday because of a bomb threat.

Transit police of the north-west region said the airport received an anonymous telephone bomb threat at 1.30 p.m. and that a bomb squad was searching the terminal.

Anna Fedoseyeva, spokeswoman for the airport in Russia's second-largest city, said the evacuation of passengers and staff began at 3 p.m. local time. An hour later, normal operations resumed after the call was judged to be a false alarm, Fedoseyeva said.

Bomb threats are common in Russia, mostly the work of teenage pranksters, but evacuations of airports or railway stations are rare.

The Pulkovo airport, about 14 miles (20 kms) south of St. Petersburg, handled nearly 13 million passengers last year.