I think Putin is shooting himself in the foot with all these cyber attacks. Putin and the oligarchs had to deflect the attention away from themselves and onto an imaginary outside threat. Okay I can see that, you don't want the masses storming the Tzar's palace like back in 1918. But these needless attacks are just making enemies and that will cost Russia in the long term.
The current Russian administration is not only corrupt, it is incompetent. These cyber attacks will color every trade negotiation, every treaty, etc for decades to come.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...08-31-05-54-13
STOCKHOLM (AP) -- The defense ministers of Sweden and Denmark say they would boost their military cooperation to counter the threat of Russian military buildup, cyberattacks and false news.
Peter Hultqvist and Claus Hjort Frederiksen said in a joint statement titled "Russian fake news: A danger to our countries" that misinformation from Russia made their nations "increasingly unsafe." They said Thursday they would increase hybrid warfare cooperation, but stopped short of giving details.
The two ministers from the neighboring Scandinavian countries cited an increased presence of Russian military vessels in the nearby Baltic Sea region, which has also seen several reports of airspace violations by Russian military aircraft.