Bomb threats paralyze the Lithuanian government. The police suspect Russia is behind them.

A flood of fake bomb threats briefly paralyzed the work of government ministries, courts and police stations in Lithuania on Tuesday, raising fears that Russia was escalating pressure on the Baltic NATO country in retaliation for restrictions on freight traffic to an isolated Russian territory.

The bomb threats, which all turned out to be bogus but still prompted the evacuation of buildings, were sent by email just a day after computer hackers linked to the Russian state unleashed a digital onslaught on scores of Lithuanian government and private institutions.

Russia and Lithuania are locked in a tense standoff over a railway line that passes through Lithuanian territory and connects the Russian possession of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea to the rest of Russia, more than 150 miles to the east. Read more

@nytimes