The Russian Police yesterday received many bomb threats at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Venue Rostov-on-Don when Croatia locked horns with Iceland for the Group D match. The bars were evacuated, however, nothing substantial was found. "There was a phone call, an anonymous phone call, they said there was a bomb in the building," said the manager, who was asked to not interact with the media. So far the city has hosted 4 World Cup matches and the next contest is scheduled to happen on next Monday. Situated just 955 km away, the rebels back by Moscow have been fighting Ukrainian troops since 2014. The city’s proximity to the insurgent areas raises more and more security concerns.

On the other side of the city, 16 other venues in the city had been evacuated. The local police in a statement denied of a bomb threat. "On June 26, police received a series of phone calls about explosives planted at locations in Rostov-on-Don," local police said in a statement. "Police forces made all the necessary checks and no dangerous objects were found. Currently, all the venues are operating normally," read the statement.

Ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Islamic organization ISIS released a poster and threated to behead football stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in a packed football stadium. The doctored images were released on the messaging app, Telegram and the images showed masked men slitting the throats of the football stars. Suicide attacks were planned by the extremist body ISIS ahead of the mega event in Russia.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 27, 2018 04:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).