An air raid alert played out across Russian radio stations was the result of a cyber attack, Kremlin officials have claimed.
Russian citizens were warned about the threat of a missile strike and told to find shelter in an alert played out across commercial airwaves.
The message, which was reportedly played in multiple cities across Russia, translates as: “An air alert is being announced.
“Everyone, go to the shelters immediately. Attention! Attention! The threat of a missile strike.”
However, Russia insists the information was “not true” and the result of a “hacker attack”.
In a post on Telegram, Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations wrote: “A result of a hacker attack on the servers of a number of commercial radio stations in some regions of the country, information was broadcast on the air about the alleged announcement of an air raid and the threat of a missile strike.
“This information is fake and not true. We kindly ask you to follow the messages in official sources.”
It is not the first time Russia has faced such a hack.
In May last year, Russian television broadcasts were hacked with anti-war slogans opposing the invasion of Ukraine as millions tuned in to watch Victory Day celebrations.
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Viewers were met with the message: “The blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of murdered children is on your hands.”
Another caption read: “TV and the authorities are lying. No to war.”
Russia itself has also been accused of hacking.
In July last year, cyber spies suspected of working for Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR) were accused of targeting NATO countries as part of a hacking campaign.
Ukraine also accused Russia of being behind a massive cyber attack against Ukrainian government websites in January, just weeks before Vladimir Putin ordered his troops over the border.
It comes as Putin blamed the West for starting the war in Ukraine and claimed Russia responded with force “in order to stop it”.
In a speech describing his aims as the first anniversary of the conflict nears, the Russian president said Ukraine was in talks with the West about weapons before Russia invaded its neighbour on 24 February last year.
Mr Putin also announced that Russia was suspending its participation in a key nuclear treaty with the US which limits the two sides’ strategic nuclear arsenals.
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“I would like to repeat, they started the war and we used force in order to stop it,” he said in his state of the nation address on Tuesday.
The Russian leader said Kyiv held talks with the West about weapons supplies before the “special military operation”, as Moscow calls it, began.
President Joe Biden responded with his own speech yesterday, in which he said Putin expected his enemies to “roll over” when he invaded Ukraine but was met with the “iron will” of its allies.
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“I can report: Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and, most important, it stands free,” Mr Biden said.
The American president gave his historic speech from the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, Poland, after making a highly-secretive, and equally historic, visit to Kyiv in Ukraine.
