Putin phone-in TV event hit by ‘cyber-attacks’

(File photo) Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A televised phone-in with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday was targeted by “powerful” cyber-attacks, the state-run Rossiya 24 network which broadcast the event said. Shown on Kremlin-friendly media, the annual session with Putin sees the president field in real time queries submitted by Russians. This year’s phone-in yesterday, which lasted nearly four hours, repeatedly faced connection problems, particularly during calls from remote areas. “Our digital systems are right now facing attacks, powerful DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks,” a Rossiya-24 presenter told Putin, after a caller from the Kuzbass region in southwestern Siberia experienced connection issues. “Are you joking? Seriously?” Putin responded. “Turns out we have hackers in Kuzbass,” he quipped. Russia’s largest telecommunications provider, Rostelecom, confirmed the attacks to news agencies, saying that measures were being taken to “block these illegitimate activities”.