Twitter has restricted the English-language account of former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev for a post he made arguing that Poland “should not exist.”
Medvedev, who is currently deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and an outspoken supporter of the war in Ukraine, wrote that Poland should not exist “as long as no one but Russophobes is in power there” adding that Ukraine was “full of Polish mercenaries who must be ruthlessly destroyed.”
The tweet, which has now been hidden by moderators, was in reaction to the Polish state seizing a school from the Russian embassy in Warsaw.
According to Twitter’s rules, until Medvedev deletes the offending post he will be unable to tweet, though he also has the option of appealing the removal request.
In response to Twitter’s decision, Medvedev posted about the “degradation of Twitter” in Russian, English, and Polish, tagging the posts with “and how about that, @elonmusk?” referring to Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk.
Medvedev also stressed that he could do without Twitter. “After all, this is just a foreign social network acting in the interests of the American establishment. We have used it quite cynically to advance our propaganda goals,” he said.
In early April, Twitter lifted restrictions on accounts affiliated with the Russian authorities, including state propaganda accounts, after which media outlets such as Russia Today began to appear in recommendations.
Twitter remains blocked in Russia on the recommendation of the communications regulator Roskomnadzor, which blocked recent attempts to lift the ban on the grounds that the tech giant had refused to remove some 1,300 “prohibited materials.”