MOSCOW: Russian national flag carrier Aeroflot was forced to cancel dozens of flights on Monday after a crippling cyberattack claimed by a shadowy pro-Ukrainian hacking group, which one lawmaker called a wakeup call for Moscow.

The Kremlin said the situation was worrying and prosecutors confirmed the disruption was the result of a hack and opened a criminal investigation. Senior lawmaker Anton Gorelkin said that Russia was under digital attack.

`We must not forget that the war against our country is being waged on all fronts, including the digital one. And I do not rule out that the hacktivists who claimed responsibility for the incident are intheservice ofunfriendly states,` Gorelkin said.

Aeroflot did not say how long the problems wouldtake to resolve, but departure boards at Moscow`s Sheremetyevo Airport turned red as flights were cancelled at a time when many Russians take their holidays.

A statement purporting to be from a hacking group called Silent Crow said it had carried out the operation together with a Belarusian group called Cyberpartisans BY, and linked it to the war in Ukraine. `Glory to Ukraine! Long live Belarus!` said the statement, whose authenticity Reuters could not immediately verify.

Silent Crow has previously claimed responsibility for attacks this year on a Russian real estate database, a state telecoms company, a large insurance firm, the Moscow government`s IT department and the Russian office of South Korean carmaker KIA.-Reuters