Hackers Anonymous renamed Vladimir Putin’ s £73million superyacht “FCKPTN” and made it look as though it had crashed into Snake Island, in another attack on the president.
The group broke into the vessel’s maritime data and changed its destination to “Hell”, before changing it to the small island where 13 Ukrainians stood up to a Russian warship.
It also changed the name of the yacht, which boasts a helipad and a swimming pool that converts into a dance floor, to Anonymous and Anonleaks before FCKPTN.
The group wrote on Twitter : “Now Putin's yacht is on the right track! ;) #FckPutin.
“With love, #Anonymous.”
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Bloomberg reporter Ryan Gallagher said on Twitter: “[They] told me they did it by manipulating the maritime 'Automatic Identification System,' which is used to track ship locations.
"They said they wanted to put the yacht in the scope of sanction packages as well as 'put a little smile on some faces for a short period in these dark times.'"
Putin’s yacht, real name Graceful, was most recently kept at the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, to undergo a refurbishment, clean and to have new balconies fitted.
It was moved from the area shortly before the fresh Ukraine crisis began, with media reports suggesting it left “in a haste”.
German publication BILD wrote: “Nothing like getting out of German waters!
"Vladimir Putin's luxury yacht 'Graceful' has hastily left the shipyard 'Blohm + Voss' in the port of Hamburg.
“It was apparently an escape for fear of arrest!”
Anonymous declared "cyberwar" against the Russian Government in a tweet hours after the invasion of their neighbours Ukraine began last Thursday.
They have already taken down several Kremlin Government websites and changed Russian television to play Ukrainian music.
Yesterday several media organisations sympathetic to Putin were hacked and had their front pages changed to anti-Putin messages.
The message read: "Dear citizens. We urge you to stop this madness, do not send your sons and husbands to certain death. Putin makes us lie and puts us in danger.
"We were isolated from the whole world, they stopped buying oil and gas.
“In a few years we will live like in North Korea.”
Anonymous declared taking the sites offline as a "present" to Putin after he ignored their earlier demands to resign and restore the rights of the Ukrainian people.
