ROSTOV-ON-DON, June 5. /TASS/. Authorities in Russia’s Rostov Region have denied reports that local radio stations were hacked, allegedly broadcasting a speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin imposing martial law and general mobilization.
Earlier on Monday, a post on a social network said that the Russian president’s address declaring general mobilization and martial law in the border regions of Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk had been broadcast on the 105.9FM channel in the Rostov Region. After this, messenger posts said that it had been a hack.
"Reports about an alleged hack of the regional radio station that are being disseminated in social networks and messengers are not true. There was no hack," the Rostov Region Ministry of Information Policy and Mass Communications said and called on people to rely only on official sources of information.
The hack and the broadcast of the presidential address were also refuted by Roman Korneyev, editor-in-chief of the Ataman FM radio station, which airs on 105.9FM in the Rostov Region.
"Radio Ataman FM has never broadcast any reports about Vladimir Putin’s alleged address either in Russia or in individual regions. This is nothing but a hoax. There was no hack. The radio station is operating routinely," Korneyev told TASS.
The Rostov Region has administrative borders with the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. It has 41 temporary accommodation centers, which housed more than 4,000 people in January 2023. The headquarters of the Southern Military District is located in Rostov-on-Don.