A complaint by the British government has resulted in the suspension of a Twitter account that was set up by RT, the Kremlin-backed news channel formerly known as Russia Today, as part of an extensive online project to mark the Russian revolution’s centenary. The account, @BritshEmb1917, used an image of the UK Foreign Office’s official crest under a profile identifying it as “The official Twitter account of the United Kingdom in the Russian Empire”. After the account was suspended last week, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We alerted Twitter to an unofficial account that was using HMG branding without consent.”It is believed the account was noticed by Foreign Office staff in London who then alerted the real British embassy in Moscow. It is understood that Twitter took action to remove the account for violating user rules regarding impersonation. Last year a spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry promised tit-for-tat retaliation against British media after the closure of UK bank accounts linked to RT.

Source: The Guardian September 02, 2017 12:35 UTC