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The disappearance of the controversial Russian operation had followed remarks by the country's president, Vladimir Putin, about the importance of intellectual property, leading to fears that the high profile site had been the victim of a clampdown.

However it seems that the downtime may have been down to problems with the new Linux servers it has installed to replace its ageing Windows 2000 boxes.

Allofmp3 has been targeted by international music industry bodies as a prime example of the extent of copyright violation within Russia. Its cheap prices have made it the number two downloads site in the UK, according to one survey.