Ex-Soviet leader Gorbachev denies rumour of his death after Twitter hacks
The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has been forced to deny rumours of his death after hackers planted a false report on Twitter accounts of a state-run news agency.
"I'm alive and well," Mr Gorbachev told the website of Novaya Gazeta newspaper late on Wednesday, using a blanked-out Russian expletive to describe his ill-wishers who he said were "hoping in vain".
His indignant response came after two Twitter accounts of the RIA Novosti state news agency posted news of the death of the first and only president of the USSR to sign off on a bloodless break-up of its empire in 1991. RIA Novosti said the Twitter accounts of its press centre and its German language news service had been hacked and that the false reports were online for only five minutes before the agency removed them.
