Five popular Twitter accounts known for their acerbic lampoons of Russian foreign policy have become the latest victims in an increasingly noisy information war between the Kremlin and the west.
Accounts including @DarthPutinKGB, a gentle parody of Russia’s president (50,000 followers, tagline: “You don’t visit Russia, I visit you”); @SovietSergey, a send-up of Russia’s foreign minister (960 followers, tagline: “I deny, therefore I am”) and @AmbYakovenkoNot, an account that mocked Russia’s ambassador to the UK (725 followers, tagline: “Admirer of Putin, friend of Corbyn”) were all taken offline by Twitter on Tuesday, in an apparently co-ordinated action.
A spokesperson for the US social media site said the company could not explain why because of user “privacy and security reasons,” and pointed to the site’s official policy on parody, commentary and fan accounts.