Moscow mayor’s Telegram reportedly hacked as 'Moscow will burn' message appears
Sergei Sobyanin (Photo: Russian media)
On Sunday evening, June 21, the personal Telegram channel of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin was hacked. After the hack, messages claiming that the Russian capital would burn began appearing in large numbers, according to Russian Telegram channels.
The incident occurred around 22:00. At that time, the channel feed was flooded with dozens of identical messages, which, among other things, read: "Moscow will burn," "Glory to Ukraine," and a fundraising collection for the needs of the Ukrainian army was also posted.
Later, the posts disappeared, and currently, as media outlets report, the channel has been restored. It is noteworthy that the hack occurred on Sobyanin's birthday — on Sunday, he turned 68 years old.
It was the mayor's second Telegram channel that was hacked, the one called "Sergei Sobyanin. Personal Blog." This public page is not fake but official, as confirmed by the active link on the website sobyabin.ru. In this channel, as a rule, only announcements of website materials are published.
The mayor's main city channel ("Mayor of Moscow. Sergei Sobyanin"), which publishes operational city news, was not affected.
Moscow under fire
On Thursday, June 18, Ukrainian drones carried out a mass attack on Moscow and its suburbs. As a result of the attack, an oil refinery located in the Kapotnya area (a district of Moscow) was hit. One of the most striking images was the lid of a tank flying into the air. Moreover, this launch likely resulted from a Russian air-defense missile attempting to intercept a drone.
Later, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the attack on Russia and called on Russians to bring Russian leader Vladimir Putin to his senses, warning that otherwise Moscow would burn.
Incidentally, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, despite what ultimately happened, chose to praise the performance of the Russian air defense. According to him, the performance indicators were high.
