Several Russian state-controlled or state-aligned websites appeared to have been hacked early Monday.
The websites for the major Russian state-owned news agency, TASS, the Russian nationally distributed newspaper, Kommersant, and the daily broadsheet newspaper, Izvestia, which was founded in St. Petersburg during the Russian Revolution and was one of principal media outlets in the Soviet Union, all displayed a message signed purportedly by the notorious hacking collective Anonymous.
“Dear citizens. we call on you to stop this madness,” the message began. “don’t send your sons and husbands to sure death. Putin is making us lie and puts us in danger. We have been isolated from the world, no one is buying our oil & gas. In a few year’s time we’ll be living like in North Korea. Why do we need this? For Putin to make it to history books? This is not our war, let’s stop it!”
It continued, “This message will be deleted and some of us will be fired and maybe put to jail. But we can’t tolerate this anymore. Russian journalists who care. Anonymous.”
The message comes several days after Anonymous, an international hacking collective that has carried out cyberattacks against governments and corporations, appeared to declare war against Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The “YourAnonNews” Twitter account, which currently touts 7.4 million followers, made the declaration on Thursday, saying the hacking group is “currently involved in operations against the Russian Federation.” The account did not post about the Russian state news agencies as of Monday morning.
Late Sunday, the account said the hacking group GNG, affiliated with Anonymous, leaked the database for SberBANK, a state-owned Russian banking company headquartered in Moscow.
The European Central Bank warned on Monday that the European arm of Sberbank, considered Russian’s biggest lender, and two other subsidiaries were set to fail, after “significant deposit outflows” linked to “geopolitical tensions,” Reuters reported.
Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv was bombarded with a heavy rocket attack Monday. Local media reported dozens of people were killed and hundreds were injured in the city in northeast Ukraine with an estimated population of 1.5 million people. The heavy shelling and causalities come as Ukrainian and Russian officials met at Ukraine’s border with Belarus for peace talks.
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
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