Ukrainian Hackers Claim Huge Kremlin Data Breach

(pc-Google Images)

Two Ukrainian hackers claimed responsibility for a major Kremlin breach that compromised the accounts of top Russian officials.

(pc-Google Images/ Vladislav Surkov)

Several of them they claim to have hacked belonged to Vladislav Surkov, one of the main figures in Russia’s intervention in the Ukraine and Crimea rebellion and a key creator of Russia’s current political system.

The hackers who named themselves as self-styled ‘hacktivists’, didn’t reveal how they managed to crack the Kremlin’s cyber defences to steal the emails from Surkov’s inbox.

A portion of the hacked emails, which were shared with the BBC, imply that separatists in eastern Ukraine are controlled by Moscow. The separatists have been at war with Kiev since 2014.

The emails reportedly contain budgets for the pro-Russian “republics” in eastern Ukraine. They also contain a plan in which Moscow would provide fuel to separatist-held areas.

One email is claimed to have been sent by separatist leader Denis Pushilin back in January which contains a map of Ukraine that has been separated into three regions, with the Eastern part marked in what translated to ‘New Russia’ and the central part as ‘Lesser Russia’.

Other emails leaked further strengthen the claims that Russia’s bond with the separatist movement is tighter then it claims. Russia has, however, denied all the allegations.