Updated at 0722 EAT on February 25th 2022.

What you need to know:

• The elusive computer experts issued the stark announcement on Twitter 
• They said they were ‘officially’ in ‘cyber war against the Russian government’
• Shortly afterwards they revealed they had targeted Kremlin-backed RT .

Hacking group Anonymous has declared ‘cyber war’ against President Vladimir Putin’s government after he mounted a full-scale invasion of  Ukraine.

The elusive computer experts issued the stark announcement on their Twitter account on Thursday evening. 

They said shortly before 10pm: ‘The Anonymous collective is officially in cyber war against the Russian government.’

Around 30 minutes later, they announced that they had taken down the website of the Kremlin-backed TV channel RT, which broadcasts in Britain and has been heavily criticised for its coverage. 

When HICGI news Agency attempted to access the site this morning, it was still inaccessible and only displayed an error message that said ‘this site can’t be reached’.

The cyber war declaration raises the prospect that Russia could be subjected to systematic hacking attempts in the coming days.

Prior to the invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, the country’s government and banks were targeted by a massive cyber attack that was believed to have been carried out by Russia.

People on social media responded positively to Anonymous’s cyber war declaration against Putin.

One person wrote: ‘THANK YOU! Now, work on draining their finances.’

Another said: ‘You are awesome, thanks.’

A third wrote: ‘THANK YOU! I love you! The most beautiful thing EVER…’

Anonymous said in their tweet about RT: ‘The Anonymous collective has taken down the website of the Russian propaganda station RT News.’ 

Anonymous have previously targeted groups including the Ku Klux Klan and Islamic extremists. 

Members are known as ‘Anons’ and are distinguished by their Guy Fawkes masks.

In July last year, the collective warned Tesla founder Elon Musk that they planned to target him after saying he wields too much power over the cryptocurrency markets. 

 THE ELUSIVE HACKING GROUP ANONYMOUS

Hacker group Anonymous has been linked to online attacks around the world aimed at punishing governments for policies of which the hackers disapprove.

Members are known as ‘Anons’ and are distinguished by their Guy Fawkes masks.

The group are seen as anything from digital Robin Hoods to cyber terrorists for their hacking campaigns against government agencies, child pornography sites and the Klu Klux Klan.

In 2008 the online community staged a series of protests, pranks, and hacks Church of Scientology as part if its ‘Project Chanology.’

Later targets of Anonymous ‘hacktivism’ included government agencies of the US, Israel, Tunisia, Uganda, and others, copyright protection agencies; the Westboro Baptist Church; and corporations such as PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, and Sony. 

In 2013 they declared war on secretive ‘chat sites’ used by paedophiles to trade images.

Last November they hacked into the Twitter account of the Ku Klux Klan after the white supremacist group distributed flyers threatening ‘lethal force’  protesters in Ferguson.

Dozens of people have been arrested for involvement in Anonymous cyberattacks, in countries including the US, UK, Australia, the Netherlands, Spain, and Turkey.