US social media giant Twitter inexplicably blocked the account of Rossotrudnichestvo, an autonomous Russian federal agency responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and cultural exchanges, over a tweet congratulating followers with Constitution Day, the agency’s press service said Friday.
According to the agency, its tweets have been saved, but the account has no followers and isn’t following anyone, and it’s impossible to publish new tweets.
“We’ve made a request to Twitter [as to why the account was blocked]. They replied that the block took place due to yesterday’s publication regarding Constitution Day. At the moment this post has also been deleted by administrators,” the press service explained.
The agency said it’s now waiting for a more detailed answer from Twitter regarding the inexplicable blocking of its account, and when it can be expected to be unblocked.
A screengrab of Rossotrudnichestvo’s Twitter account, @rsgov, currently shows a page reading "Account suspended" and the message “This account has been suspended. Learn more about why Twitter suspends accounts, or return to your timeline.”
It remains unclear as to why Twitter blocked Rossotrudnichestvo’s account. The agency’s sister account, Rossotrudnichestvo Belarus, tweeted its own innocuous message on Constitution Day Thursday, featuring a picture of a copy of Russia’s Constitution, along with a text reading “Russian Constitution Day, marked annually on December 12, is one of the main state holidays in our country.” The tweet is still up, and no action has been taken against the sister account.
🇷🇺 День конституции России, который ежегодно отмечается 12 декабря, – один из главных государственных праздников в нашей стране. pic.twitter.com/ABUjKj2Gsh
— Россотрудничество Беларусь | г.Минск (@rcnkminsk) 12 декабря 2019 г.
Constitution of 1993
The Russian Constitution of 1993 was drafted following the Constitutional Crisis of September-October 1993, which saw the fledgling Russian republic’s Supreme Soviet parliament face off against President Boris Yeltsin in a struggle for political power. The crisis was accompanied by sporadic fighting in the streets of Moscow, and culminated in the shelling of the Russian White House parliament building by tanks on October 4, 1993. The new constitution, created with support from the US Agency for International Development, was adopted by national referendum on December 12, 1993, and entered into force on December 25, 1993, turning Russia into a presidential republic.
