White powder mailed to Russian UN mission harmless

Nov 11, 2009, 16:20 GMT

New York - The Russian mission to the United Nations on Wednesday received an envelope containing a white powder, which was determined to be harmless after an initial test, news reports said.

Similar envelopes containing the suspicious powder were discovered at the missions of France, Austria, Uzbekistan, Germany and Britain. The powder was plain flour, New York authorities said.

The Russian mission alerted authorities after it discovered a suspicious package at 1 am, but was subsequently told that the powder was harmless.

The US Post Office confirmed that the package to the Russian mission originated from Texas, which was also the case for mail received at the other UN missions on Tuesday.

A series of mailed packets containing powdered anthrax sent within the United States shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks, resulted in widespread panic and left five people dead.