Senior Russian Lawmaker Deletes Twitter Account After Crackdown on RT, Sputnik

Konstantin Kosachev, foreign affairs committee chair with the upper house of the Russian parliament, deleted his Twitter account Thursday after the social network cracked down on the Russian media outlets.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Kosachev told the RT news network earlier he wanted to take down his account after the microblogging website decided to ban advertising by RT and the Sputnik news agency.

"I am a Twitter user and have been relying on the independence of this social network. Now I see that it is obviously dependent in its actions, it is politicized. So I have decided to unsubscribe from Twitter and delete my account. If you want, it can be perceived as an action of solidarity with RT and Sputnik… From now, Twitter is not interesting for me, and I cease to use its services," Konstantin Kosachev said as quoted by RT broadcaster.

He added that Twitter violated the freedom of speech by imposing a ban on ads from RT and Sputnik

Twitter said earlier it had conducted an internal investigation after the US intelligence community claimed both media outlets attempted to meddle with the 2016 US presidential election.

Sputnik news agency said in a press release it had never used any paid promotion on Twitter. Margarita Simonyan, the RT editor-in-chief, said she regretted the ban in light of Russia’s possible measures against US media.

Russian media, especially the RT broadcaster, has faced intense scrutiny in the United States. The broadcaster has been accused of allegedly spreading fake news and attempting to influence public opinion. According to the US intelligence community, the broadcaster was involved in the Kremlin's alleged attempts to sway the US presidential election in 2016. Most recently, the channel was requested to register under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act by October 17.

Russia has repeatedly denied these claims over the lack of sufficient evidence.