Hacktivists Apparently Trounced Russian Minister’s Social Media

A hacker group purportedly representing Turkish activists blocked Russia Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov's Instagram account and displayed images of its own.

"The Börteçine Cyber Team" claimed responsibility for the attack, according to screenshots of the photo-sharing account, published by Russian and Turkish media and featuring Turkish flags, a portrait of Turkey's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and a warplane.

Instagram later restored Nikiforov's account, but he complained that the technical support team had not reacted to the incident for more than nine hours.

Russia's ties with Turkey slackened when a Turkish fighter shot down a Russian bomber near the Turkish-Syrian border in November, a move Russian President Putin described as "a stab in the back.”