OMM Newsroom
The “Male State”, an extremist misogynistic group named in hoax bomb threats to Italian airports this week, has denied any connection to the false warnings that disrupted flights across Europe, according to the BBC.
The denial came as further bomb scares involving airlines were reported, including on a “Ryanair” flight from Rome to Lisbon and a “Wizz Air” flight from Prague to Rome, which was diverted to Venice.
Bomb threats were also reported to several prominent Irish media organisations on Friday, prompting evacuations. The Irish government said the incidents appeared to be part of a “co-ordinated campaign of disruption”.
In a reply to the BBC Russian Service, an account on “Telegram” linked to the group and its founder, Vladislav Pozdnyakov, mocked suggestions that it had sent the threats.
“What Male State? Where have you seen it? It hasn't existed for many years,” the account wrote. “If tomorrow they sign a [threat] letter, say, from Putin, will you then try to reach our president to ask your stupid question?”
The group was banned in Russia in 2021, and Pozdnyakov is now thought to live abroad. In some places, it has since renamed itself “Male Legion”.
The initial hoax email, seen by the BBC, was sent on Thursday at 07:21 with the subject line “warning of a threat”. It was addressed to several offices and individuals at “Aeroporti di Roma” (ADR), the company that manages Rome’s airports, as well as accounts at Fiumicino airport. The sender’s email address appears to be linked to state health services in Bogota, Colombia.
It is unclear whether airports or airlines in other countries received the same or similar threats. At least one warning reported on Friday appears to have been made by phone rather than email.
Written in fluent Italian, the unusual message sent to Rome claimed that “fighters” from the “Male State” had planted explosives on two incoming flights in an attack on Italy’s “feminist regime” that would be “remembered forever”.
One flight was diverted and ordered to land in France. Another was escorted into Rome by Italian air force jets, which were scrambled for the second time that week. No explosives were found on either aircraft or on any other plane that reported receiving a bomb threat.
A source at ADR told the BBC that the warnings were taken seriously because they were extremely unusual and that the source could not recall anything similar in recent years.
Despite the group’s denial, Italy’s La Stampa newspaper appeared convinced that “Male State” was behind the threats, asking in an article whether it was acting as “the regime’s armed wing”.
“Attacking, and being able to deny the attacks...is part of the Russian game plan,” the newspaper wrote.
One “Telegram” channel linked to Pozdnyakov is largely filled with strongly pro-Russian messages about the war in Ukraine and posts highlighting problems and tensions in Europe, including recent youth protests.
The online investigation group “Bellingcat”, which examined the group in 2022, described it at the time as a “vocal and vile online booster” of Russia’s invasion, with a clear far-right extremist ideology.
As investigations continue across Europe into who is behind the wave of hoax messages and whether they are coordinated or the work of copycats, Italy’s defence minister has warned of a “strategy to increase chaos”.
Guido Crosetto said he had been speaking about the “hybrid threat” to Europe for several years.
“It seems to me that, day after day, from incidents involving refrigerators to the blood supply in France and now these false alarms, there are those who have an interest in fuelling tensions,” Crosetto said on Thursday, referring to recent cyberattacks that raised supermarket refrigerator temperatures and destroyed large quantities of produce.
“Our interest is to do the opposite and ensure the country’s security,” he said.
The BBC report included additional reporting by Davide Ghiglione.
