abroad and one phone company spoke of an "international virtual operator".

There was some suggestion, too, that the source of the disruption may have been closer to home. An aide to the Russian defence ministry's inspector general was quoted as saying it was part of an anti-terror exercise.

"For the first time since Soviet times, large-scale anti-terrorism exercises are being carried out in Russia, involving all government agencies responsible for state security," Oleg Ostrovsky told newspaper Argumenty i Fakty Prikamye. The report was later deleted, according to BBC Monitoring.

Russia has been hit by jihadist attacks, including a bombing on the St Petersburg metro in April in which 16 people died.

However, a former opposition MP, Gennady Gudkov, warned that if the current alerts really were the work of federal security officers,Veteran rock singer-songwriter Alice Cooper was born into the church but nearly died living outside of it.

The moment of truth for Cooper came forty years ago, after the rock star drank so much he began throwing up blood.

“Everything that could go wrong was shutting down inside of me,” Cooper, told the New York Daily News’ Confidential.

“I was drinking with Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix and trying to keep up with Keith Moon and they all died at 27,” Cooper explained.

That awakening made Cooper realize that he needed to change his ways. Specifically, it led him back to the church.

“My wife and I are both Christian,” Cooper, who is portraying King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar, told Confidential. “My father was a pastor, my grandfather was an evangelist. I