Two liberal Russian media outlets and an election watchdog believe their sites were shut down by hackers intent on silencing them over alleged violations in yesterday’s parliamentary vote.
Sites belonging to the Ekho Moskvy radio station and the news portal Slon.ru, plus the western-financed election monitor Golos, had been inaccessible for more than 10 hours at the time of writing.
Prime minister Vladimir Putin‘s ruling United Russia party was accused of ballot-rigging by opponents.
Liliya Shibanova, executive director of Golos, said: “I believe that nobody but government structures and the FSB is capable of conducting such a campaign.” (The FSB is the successor to the Soviet state’s KGB).
Slon.ru director Maxim Kashulinsky said he believed his outlet was targeted because it had supported the Golos interactive map, which compiles reports of electoral violations.
President Dmitry Medvedev, who is stepping aside so that Putin can return to the presidency next year, has dismissed talk of electoral fraud.
Ekho Moskvy’s editor-in-chief, Alexei Venediktov, wrote on his Twitter account: “It is obvious that the election day attack on the site is part of an attempt to prevent publishing information about violations.”
Source: Reuters/Yahoo