Russian state media company VGTRK, which operates the country’s major national TV stations, experienced a major cyberattack on Monday, reportedly attributed to Ukrainian hackers, Reuters reports.
VGTRK reported that its online services were targeted and that online broadcasting and internal services were down, which could take significant time to restore. The attack rendered VGTRK’s website inaccessible and disrupted its Rossiya-24 news channel, with users receiving a “503 Service Unavailable” error message. Russian media reported that the hackers may have wiped data from servers, including backups.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the attack as “unprecedented” and stated that VGTRK was working to resolve the issue. The attack coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 72nd birthday, and a Ukrainian source claimed that the cyberattack was a “birthday gift” from Ukrainian hackers.
Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova condemned the attack, framing it as part of a “hybrid war” against Russian media by the West. Moscow plans to raise the issue in international forums like UNESCO.
