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Topics: Russia, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Russia, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine
Hacking group Anonymous has claimed to have released the personal data of over 100,000 Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
Days after President Vladimir Putin first sent troops across the border on 24 February, the collective declared it was 'officially in cyber war against the Russian government'.
In its latest attack, the group announced yesterday, 3 April, that it is responsible for the 'leaked' details of 120,000 of the Kremlin's military who are currently located in Ukraine.
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The personal details are reported as including not only soldiers' names, but dates of birth, home addresses and even passport numbers, as per The Sun.
The group stated: "All soldiers participating in the invasion of Ukraine should be subjected to a war crime tribunal."
The declaration follows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's branding of Russia's attack on the country and its civilians as 'genocide'.
Within days of Putin sending troops across the border, Anonymous sent a recorded message to the president featuring a montage of videos and images of the invasion from news outlets in the background.
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The masked spokesperson stated: "This is a message to Vladimir Putin, from Anonymous.
"Mr Putin. The ongoing invasion of Ukraine has shown that your regime has no respect for human rights or the self determination of your neighbours."
The group reflected on how 'innocent people' had been killed and called Putin the 'instigator' of such violence.
"Members of Anonymous have declared cyber war against your aggressive regime [...] soon you will feel the full wrath of the world's hackers."
On 31 March, Anonymous also alleged it 'hacked 62,000 emails from the Marathon Group, a Russian investment firm owned by Alexander Vinokurov, currently under EU sanctions'.
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It said it put the details on 'DDoSecrets' - a non-profit whistleblower site for news leaks, formally called the Distributed Denial of Secrets.
While 'awaiting confirmation of attribution to a specific member of Anonymous,' on 1 April, co-founder of DDoSecrets, Emma Best, tweeted that the site 'published approximately 200,000 emails hacked by Anonymous from the Russian law firm Capital Legal Services, which practices law in a variety of areas.'
The hacking collective also retweeted one of Best's posts which stated DDoSecrets had 'published roughly 57,500 emails from the Russian Orthodox Church's charitable wing,' although it did not confirm whether it was responsible.
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Anonymous has warned: "The hacking will continue until Russia stops their aggression."
If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information