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Rockets over Ukraine: Unknowns wanted to stir up fear in Russia
Photo: Vadim Belikov / dpa
For the second time in a week, false air alerts were broadcast in Russia.
According to the Reuters news agency, several local radio and TV stations have broadcast warnings of imminent rocket attacks, urging the population to seek shelter.
Shortly thereafter, the Russian authorities denied the threat: "As a result of a hacker attack on the servers of radio and television stations, information about the announcement of an air alert was spread in some regions of the country," said the Ministry of Civil Protection.
A similar incident had already occurred last Wednesday.
The listeners of several radio stations had heard an urgent warning that morning: "Warning, an air alert has been declared.
Everyone must go to shelters immediately.
Attention, attention, there is a risk of a rocket attack.« A little later, the civil defense reported to the Telegram news service: »This information is fake and does not correspond to reality.«
Gazprom subsidiary hacked
Gazprom Media has now confirmed an attack on its own infrastructure to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
The group operates a number of TV and radio stations in Russia.
An image was circulated on social media in which a man tried to escape from a rocket.
It is said to have been broadcast by local TV stations along with the false alarm.
Since Russia attacked neighboring Ukraine a year ago, there have been repeated protests by opponents of the war, including arson attacks on military installations.
It was not initially clear whether the false alarms were intended to be a kind of protest.
In the Russian state media, several local politicians blamed Ukraine for the false alarms, but Kiev has not yet issued a statement.
Last Tuesday, the state television website collapsed during the live online stream of President Vladimir Putin's state of the nation address.
The authorities also blamed a hacker attack for this.
tmk/dpa/Reuters
