After publishing exposé on Putin's daughter, independent magazine faces DDoS attacks and warning from state censor

The magazine The New Times has received an official warning from Russia's state censor, Roskomnadzor, according to the news agency RBC.

The formal reason for the warning is an article published on January 16, titled, “If Only There Weren't a War.” The text mentions the Ukrainian ultranationalist group Right Sector without including the legally obligatory note that the organization has been banned as extremist in Russia. Roskomnadzor's warning is suspiciously timed, coming the same day The New Times published an exposé on Putin's older daughter, Maria, detailing her private life and recent motherhood.

After publishing the material about Putin's daughter, The New Times' website became inaccessible to visitors. It stopped opening around noontime in Moscow and at the moment of this writing the site is available only intermittently.

“This was an obvious violation,” Roskomnadzor's press secretary told reporters, explaining the notice issued to The New Times. “We've warned the media many times about the requirements involving in writing about prohibited organizations.”

[The New Times chief editor Evgeniya] Albats suspects that the culprit is “powerful DDoS attacks,” adding that the last time the magazine experienced such a massive hacker attack was after it published an interview with former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky in 2013.

RBC

• For more on this story, see *Independent magazine reveals new personal details about Putin’s eldest daughter*