ST. PETERSBURG, ****** — The Pulkovo airport in ******’s St. Petersburg was briefly evacuated on Tuesday because of a **** ******.

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

Anna Fedoseyeva, spokeswoman for the airport in ******’s second-largest city, said the ********** 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.

**** threats are common in ******, 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.