Yakunin's fake dismissal

A hoax email which for 30 minutes had Russians believing one of President Vladimir Putin's oldest allies had lost his job has deepened suspicions that a battle between business and political groups over money and power is intensifying, Reuters reports. 

The email sent to media late on Wednesday purported to be a government statement announcing Vladimir Yakunin's removal as head of state-owned Russian Railways, at his own request. It was later denounced as a fake by the government and Yakunin, an old friend of Putin.

The government blamed the saga on an unidentified hacker.

Yakunin called the incident a provokation, Reuters reports.