14 DAY TRIAL // Unknown hackers have hijacked the press center and German language Twitter accounts of RIA Novosti, one of Russia’s largest news agencies.
From the compromised accounts, the hackers have published tweets according to which former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev has died.
Gorbachev himself has denied the rumors, claiming that this was most likely the work of hackers hired by “some authorities,” AFP reports.
RIA Novosti removed the tweets within 5 minutes after they were posted. The news agency has launched an internal investigation and plans to call in the FSB and the Prosecutor’s Office to analyze the hack attack.
The tweets posted by the hackers alleged that Mikhail Gorbachev died in the Shoko cafe in Yekaterinburg (Ekaterinburg) while talking to Yevgeny Roizman, a politician that’s currently running for mayor of the city.