After leaking an elaborately faked statement from Vladimir Putin, hackers instilled fear in the hearts of millions of Russians about a full-scale Ukrainian attack.
Putin appeared to impose martial law in the message and said that Ukrainian forces had “entered the territories of Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk.”
A video message that initially appeared as a radio broadcast and eventually made its way onto the country’s state media later went viral on social media, with numerous clips of the emergency appeal.
The announcement, sounding like an official broadcast from Putin, said: ‘Fellow citizens, brothers and sisters, at 4am today Ukrainian troops, armed to the teeth by the NATO bloc, with approval and support from Washington, have entered the territories of Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions.
‘Our border guards and Armed Forces are fighting back the superior troops of the aggressor. My order introduced martial law in Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions.
Russian radio hit by ‘major hack’ with Putin impersonator imposing ‘martial law’
‘Also today, I will sign a law [to declare] general mobilisation because in order to fight a dangerous and treacherous enemy we would need to unite all forces of the Russian Federation.
‘I am asking residents of Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions to evacuate deeper into Russia, maintaining order and peace.’
The broadcast added: ‘Strictly follow orders by local military administration while leaving your living place, to give the Russian army the chance to defend Russian land from Ukrainian Nazis. The enemy will be destroyed, the victory will be ours.’
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted the Russian media had been caught out and branded the special Putin broadcast a ‘hack’.
‘Experts have already taken control and eliminated the hack, due to which some TV networks showed ‘Putin’s emergency appeal’,’ said Peskov.
While it remains unclear who was behind the attack, Russian officials immediately blamed Ukraine.
It appeared TV channels had repeated the message after it was first broadcast on FM radio stations across at least Belgorod, Rostov and Voronezh regions.
The latest hack across a wide area of western Russia increases the feeling that Putin’s government is losing control.
Ironically, though, the ‘Putin broadcast’ promoted calls among the autocrat’s most ardest supporters to properly announce mass mobilisation and martial law.
Putin has so far resisted such moves fearing a backlash from Russians already suffering from his ill-conceived war.