11/04/17 - Russian embassy's Twitter account vents barbs against west (62)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/11/russian-embassys-twitter-account-vents-barbs-against-west

This article talks about how the official Russian embassy to the UK Twitter account posted a photograph of flower petals in Sochi lit up in the sunshine. It illustrated the tweet with a painting of the charge of the Light Brigade, when Russian gunners decimated British cavalry during the 'Crimean ar'. Johnson is by no means the only politician to be trolled by the embassy account, which mixes snarky broadsides with photos of staid outreach events and trivia about Russian culture and history. Beckett said that the Russian embassy could get away with provocative tweets because of the country’s misinformation campaign and claims of being a victim of western aggression. He also mentioned that 'if they are trying to be disruptive generally, being a little edgy on Twitter works very well in their strategy'. Asked about the author of its Twitter account, the Russian embassy told the Guardian that “work with social media is a collective activity”. 

• “[It] is trying to sow mistrust and disaffection. It’s pretty marginal … but it has a nice marginal impact, and Russia Today and Sputnik have the same goals.”
• But some in Moscow have speculated that the more inflammatory tweets may be written by ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary Alexander Kramarenko, whose official statements have expressed similar arguments. Born in 1952, he worked at the Russian embassy in Canada in the 1990s and has been a high-ranking aideat the embassy in Britain since 2011.
• “If G7 ultimatum to Russia brings us to real war, what is your trust in @realDonaldTrump as a wartime leader & @BorisJohnson as his lieutenant?” it asked followers in a mocking Twitter poll.

In my opinion, I believe that this is what brings different debates and shows the positives of the new and digital media and the negatives of the traditional media. On the internet, there are so many actions that can take place and people can interact a lot with each other which cannot be done with traditional media such as print. In addition, communication is much quicker which is why high class people have started to use social media and get their word around because they know that people will be listening and this is why this article is also being written up.