The International Press Institute (IPI) today condemned cyber-attacks that brought down the websites of Russian media outlets that had broadcast information about opposition activities ahead of a mass protest rally scheduled in Moscow.

AFP reported that attacks brought down the website of radio station Ekho Moskvy approximately 30 minutes before protesters started gathering for a walk to the rally, and that the websites of Rain TV and the newspaper Novaya Gazeta were inaccessible as the event started. However, the agency said, the websites of Kremlin-allied newspapers and state-controlled television stations remained accessible all day.

Reports indicated that experts attributed the attacks to youth groups working either at the behest – or with the tacit support – of the Kremlin. However, the source of the attacks could not be confirmed.

IPI Deputy Director Anthony Mills said: “Attacks such as these on media websites appear to be a direct violation of the right of Russia’s people to be informed. The contribute to an alarming and intensifying patter of intolerance of criticism of the Russian authorities and establishment, and they further cement Russia’s reputation as a country in which press freedom is almost nowhere to be found.”

While today’s attacks succeeded in disabling media websites, they did not derail the planned rally. The protest – the first since President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration last month to a third term – proceeded as scheduled and reportedly drew tens of thousands of protesters despite a recent escalation in a crackdown on opposition.

Police yesterday searched the homes and offices of opposition leaders and demanded that they report for questioning today, a move many interpreted as a clumsy effort to use fear to disrupt the protests before they materialised. Last week Putin signed a new law imposing draconian penalties on those who participate in unauthorised protests.

Russia is one of the most dangerous countries in Europe for journalists. A total of 58 journalists have died in the country since IPI began keeping records of journalists’ deaths with its Death Watch in 1997, most in murders that remain unsolved. No journalists have been killed in 2012, but late last month an unknown assailant lured Radio Mayak journalist Sergei Aslanyan from his Moscow apartment and stabbed him 20 times.