The hoax that disrupted more than 30 flights and delayed thousands of passengers at Vnukovo International Airport was the latest in a rash of false alarms and genuine bombings that have undermined already flimsy security and frayed the nerves of Moscow’s 10 million residents.

Since Chechen guerrillas last month made good on a threat to avenge their war losses by spreading terrorism throughout Russia, dozens of bombings and threatened explosions have paralyzed essential activities from air transport to hotel service to the federal government headquarters.

We fear the perpetrators are testing us and waiting for the time we don’t react, and then they’ll really blow something up, said Lt. Alexei Krivorotov, the frustrated duty officer at the police unit at Vnukovo.

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