Russian family charged with ‘discrediting’ the Russian army after possibly hacked holiday decoration displays ‘Glory to Ukraine’

Police in Russia’s Veliky Novgorod have charged a family with “discrediting” the Russian army after a smart garland on their balcony displayed the inscription “Glory to Ukraine,” reports TASS.

The apartment owners told the police that the Wi-Fi-controlled garland was supposed to display a New Year’s message.

The Telegram channel Baza reports that 43-year-old Andrey assembled the smart garland by following a YouTube blogger’s instructions. He ordered a microcontroller and LED strip separately and then downloaded the firmware. At first, the garland displayed a New Year’s message, but at midnight, it changed automatically.

On a forum, Baza found several more people from different cities in Russia who complained that at midnight, their smart garland changed to display a Ukrainian slogan. The moderator suggested that the person who wrote the firmware might be responsible. One user wrote that the programmer comes from Kharkiv and that this was his “revenge for the bombings.” Other users suggested that the smart garland could have been hacked via Wi-Fi.