The Russian branch of the Anonymous hacking collective shut down the websites of the Kremlin and the Russian president, which was off line for 30 minutes as part of Operation Defiance.

The collective stepped forward to support the Russian opposition, as a mass protest was planned in Moscow against the results of the parliamentary and presidential elections, which they claim were rigged.

Russian Left Front opposition movement leader Sergei Udaltsov spoke out, as people continued small sporadic protests around the capital, against Vladimir Putin's rule. Police broke up a peaceful protest in Moscow after detaining more than 700 on the previous two days as Putin resumed the position of president.

Opposition leader Sergei Udalstov got up on a bench to say 'Russia without Putin'

He was then led away by Police shouting in Russian 'We will meet tomorrow'

Anonymous released a video on YouTube pledging its support for the opposition and announcing its latest attack.

Even Putin's re-election by electorate in March, with 63.6 per cent of vote, was tainted by allegations of vote-rigging.

I am Ann Salter,thanks for watching. For the latest on this story,and others, go to our website ibtimes.co.uk