Estonia sentences Russian cyber warrior

RELATIONS between Russia and Estonia are likely to get a bit tense after the former satellite Republic fined a 'cyber soldier' for attacking its government web sites.

The attacks came when Estonia moved a Soviet war memorial to Russian dead. The Russians objected and there were a spat of attacks on Estonia web-sites. Estonia claimed that they came from 'cyber soldiers' backed by Russia.

Russia, of course, did not like this idea and relations between the two countries became about as friendly as those between Russia and the UK.

Inspector Knacker of the Estonian Yard swooped on Dmitri Galushkevich who is an ethnic Russian and charged him with engineering the massive attacks.

According to AFP, Galushkevich, 20, was fined 1,120 euros for piloting an attack between April 25 and May 4 which blocked the website of the Reform Party of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip.

Apparently Galushkevich, a student with no previous criminal record, confessed and claimed the attack was an act of protest.

Estonia's Russian minority makes up around a quarter of the population of 1.3 million. While the Russians felt that the movement of the monument was an affront to the memory of soldiers who fought the Nazis during World War II, Estonians feel it is a symbol of five decades of Soviet occupation.

Estonia believes that most of the hackers involved in the attacks were based in Russia. µ

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