Russian Embassy in UK Reacts to Suspension of RT Twitter Account on 1917 Revolt

The Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom on Sunday commented on Twitter suspending an account set up by the RT broadcaster as part of a large-scale project about 1917 Russian Revolution, over a complaint by the UK government.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to media reports, the UK Foreign Office notified Twitter about an account with a handle @BritshEmb1917, which had an official coat of arms of the UK Foreign Office as its profile picture, because of an unauthorized use of the state-associated branding.

"HMG [Her Majesty's Government] insists on closing @BritishEmb1917 on Br-Rus.relations in 1917 Revolution. 1,2m files held secret by @ForeignOffice to do with that?" the Embassy wrote.

HMG insists on closing @BritishEmb1917 on Br-Rus.relations in 1917 Revolution. 1,2m files held secret by @ForeignOffice to do with that? pic.twitter.com/OyQGz6Ktc0

— Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) September 3, 2017

In 2013, The Guardian newspaper reported that the UK Foreign Office might be hoarding a secret trove of about 1.2 million files, which should have been declassified and transferred to the National Archives. However, the government reportedly began declassifying documents in 2014.

RT Editor-In-Chief Margarita Simonyan and Wikileaks founder Juian Assange have also commented on the suspension of the blog, with the latter saying that the UK wanted the account to be blocked because it shed light on London's poicies toward Russia during the 1917 revolution.

The blocked Twitter account was launched as part of the 1917LIVE project, which aims to roleplay the events of 1917 online. Several accounts of other prominent figures and organizations of the time, including Vladimir Lenin, have been set up and are tweeting daily. Over 120,000 tweets using the project's hashtag #1917LIVE have been made so far.