A Ukrainian government source claimed that Ukrainian hackers were behind today’s large-scale cyberattack on the Russian state media company VGTRK, which coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 72nd birthday.
“Ukrainian hackers ‘congratulated’ Putin on his birthday with a large-scale attack on a state television and radio network company,” said the source to Reuters, requesting anonymity.
Reuters could not independently verify this claim.
Broadcasting Company Targeted in Cyberattack
The Russian news site Gazeta.ru, citing an anonymous source, reported that the cyberattack targeted VGTRK’s online and internal services. VGTRK also manages radio stations and regional television channels.
“Online broadcasts and internal services have gone down, and even the internet and phones aren’t working. It will take a long time to repair them,” the source reportedly said.
“I heard that (the hackers) erased everything from the servers, including backup files. They’ve been working in lockdown mode since 6 a.m.”
Russia Responds to the Attack
Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaking in Moscow, did not specify who was behind the attack. However, she told reporters that Russian media had long been a target of the “collective West,” and said that what happened is part of a “hybrid war.”
Zakharova added that Moscow would raise the issue of the cyberattack in all international forums, including UNESCO, the UN agency that promotes freedom of expression.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated earlier that VGTRK was the target of an unprecedented cyberattack and that experts are working hard to identify those responsible.
