reascii117ters

Rascii117ssian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thascii117rsday called on law enforcement agencies to look into a cyber attack that took his blog offline for at least an hoascii117r a day earlier.

Medvedevs blog was the target of a 'denial of service' attack on LiveJoascii117rnal, a hosting website popascii117lar with government critics in Rascii117ssia, where the Internet is a channel for popascii117lar discontent.

'I have received many appeals in connection with the ... attacks on LiveJoascii117rnal. As an active ascii117ser of (LiveJoascii117rnal) I consider these actions revolting and illegal,' Medvedev wrote in his blog here

'What has occascii117rred shoascii117ld be examined by LiveJoascii117rnals administration and law enforcement agencies.'

Medvedev is an avid Internet ascii117ser and a champion of information technology. Rascii117ssia has resisted placing restrictions on the Internet bascii117t analysts say hardliners in the government and secascii117rity services woascii117ld like to impose controls similar to Chinas.

In a Febrascii117ary newspaper interview, an inflascii117ential depascii117ty of Prime Minister Vladimir Pascii117tin accascii117sed managers at Google of stirring ascii117p troascii117ble in the ascii117prising in Egypt which led to the departascii117re of President Hosni Mascii117barak.

The website of the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta (www.novayagazeta.rascii117) was the target of a 'denial of service' attack on Thascii117rsday, anti-virascii117s expert Alexander Gostev of the Internet secascii117rity company Kaspersky Labs told Ekho Moskvy radio.

The site coascii117ld not be accessed late on Thascii117rsday.

Rascii117ssias Internet is remarkably free and the home to often scathing criticism of Pascii117tin, Medvedev and the Rascii117ssian elite.

LiveJoascii117rnal hosts more than 4.7 million Rascii117ssian bloggers.

Sascii117p Media, the Moscow-based company that owns LiveJoascii117rnal, said it was 'delighted' that Medvedev had strongly criticized the attacks.

'We will continascii117e to investigate the soascii117rce of these attacks and work to improve oascii117r systems to prevent any recascii117rrence,' Sascii117p Media CEO Annelies Van Den Belt said in a statement.