Moscow bomb threat leads to train stations being evacuated on New Year's Day

Around 500 people were cleared out from two stations — though no bomb appears to have been found

Commuters stand on a platform as a metro train arrives at a station in Moscow July 16, 2014 (REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin)

Two railway stations in Moscow have been evacuated after a bomb threat, according to local reports.

About 500 people were forced to leave the Paveletsky and Kursky stations after the police received a tip-off that bombs had been planted in them, the RIA news agency reported.

The police did not find any explosives at Kursky after a search involving sniffer dogs, according to the same report. But it did not say what had happened at Paveletsky station.

The threat came as much of Europe was on high alert for attacks around New Year's Day celebrations.

Train stations in Munich were evacuated and closed off overnight after police said that they had received concrete information that an attack could take place.

Across much of the rest of Europe and the UK police and military personnel guarded public areas amid fears that celebrations could be the target of attacks.