And after three months of checks by the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information, the presidential administration is certain the site, unveiled Thursday, is almost hacker-proof.

"Some 500,000 people have visited the site, and there have so far been 96 attacks by hackers, but none of them has succeeded," a Kremlin spokesman said.

Hackers try to break into Web sites with a variety of goals, including defacing content and cracking confidential financial information, but the Kremlin did not know what motivated those who tried to penetrate the presidential site.

"It could be anyone, in any country," the spokesman said.

Ayaxi, the Moscow-based company that won a tender to build the site after a contest last June, said the site took almost 10 months to construct.

The site contains copies of Putin's speeches, new laws and tidbits of presidential news. Visitors can also browse a photo album that includes shots of the president walking his dogs and the Putin family's holiday snaps.

Story Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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