Russian radio station owned by one of Putin’s ‘favourite oligarchs’ is HACKED and starts playing Ukrainian anthems and anti-war songs before it is swiftly pulled off air
- Alisher Usmanov is considered to be one of President Putin’s ‘favourite’ oligarchs
- The EU sanctioned Usmanov following Russian invasion of Ukraine in February
- Hacking Kommersant FM is latest in string of Ukrainian stunts in Russian media
A Russian radio station which is owned by one of Vladimir Putin’s ‘favourite oligarchs’ was swiftly pulled off air after a hacker started playing Ukrainian anthems and anti-war songs.
Kommersant FM was broadcasting their lunchtime news bulletin before suddenly being cut off by the Ukrainian military anthem ‘Oh the red viburnum in the meadow’.
The radio station, which is another string of the Kommersant national newspaper in Russia, is owned by 68-year-old Russian businessman and oligarch Alisher Usmanov.
The European Union sanctioned Usmanov following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February by imposing an EU-wide travel ban on him and freezing all of his assets. The US imposed similar sanctions.
Described as a pro-Kremlin oligarch who has ‘particularly close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin’ and one of ‘Putin’s favourite oligarchs’ by the Official Journal of the European Union, the hacking of his radio station is the latest in a string of Ukrainian stunts on Russian media.
Usmanov, who was a shareholder in English football team Arsenal from 2017 to 2018, is also the fifth richest person in Russia and among the world’s wealthiest 100 individuals with an estimated net worth of $19.billion (£15.6billion).
Editor-in-chief of Kommersant FM, Alexey Vorobyov, said of the radio station going off air: ‘We really were hacked.
‘Technical specialists are now finding out the origin of this attack, trying to do something with the internet stream. ‘
Russian radio station Kommersant FM, owned by one of Vladimir Putin’s ‘favourite oligarch’s’ Alisher Usmanov (pictured together in 2018), was pulled off air after a hacker started playing Ukrainian anthems and anti-war songs
BBC reporter Francis Scarr raised the hacking on Twitter at 11.43am on Wednesday, writing: ‘Russian radio station Kommersant FM has been hacked and is currently playing Ukrainian and anti-war songs.
‘Midway through a news bulletin not long ago, patriotic Ukrainian song “Oh, red viburnum in the meadow”, started playing.’
In mid-March, Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor on the Russian TV channel Pervyi Kanal (Channel One), ran onto a live state TV news with a sign protesting Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine that read: ‘Stop the war… They can’t put us all in prison.
‘Don’t believe propaganda! They’re lying to you here! Russians against war.’
Ovsyannikova was arrested by police working for the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The reason given was for her ‘public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in order to protect the interests of the Russian Federation and its citizens, maintain international peace and security,’ the TASS news agency reported.
Kommersant FM was broadcasting their lunchtime news bulletin before suddenly being cut off by the Ukrainian military anthem ‘Oh the red viburnum in the meadow’
In early May, Russian TV has been hacked with the message ‘the blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of their children is on your hands’.
It impacted online viewers of various channels transmitted by MTS mobile operator, NTV Plus, Rostelecom and Wink.
The ‘No to War’ message also warned viewers that ‘TV and the authorities lie’ as it appeared on schedules and programmes including children’s TV shows, affecting viewers across the country.
The radio station, which is another string of the Kommersant national newspaper in Russia, is owned by 68-year-old Russian businessman and oligarch Alisher Usmanov
The hack came as Russians prepared to watch the annual Victory Day military parade on Red Square presided over by Vladimir Putin.
And earlier this week, Ukrainian hackers appeared to break into the website of a Russian government ministry, sending users to a page with a ‘Glory to Ukraine’ graphic.
The official website of Moscow’s Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities was down last night while officials fixed the hack.
Kremlin-backed news agency RIA reported that users’ personal data was kept safe
It added that the hackers demanded a ransom in return for not revealing users’ personal data. This claim was not verified.
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