Twitter Suspends Impostor Vladimir Putin Account

Twitter was abuzz after what appeared to be the English-language Twitter account of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been suspended on Wednesday. As it turns out, the account, which has previously been identified in news reports as an official one, was taken down because it is fake.

It isn't clear when the account was suspended, but Twitter users started noticing the suspension early on Wednesday morning. It wasn't clear that the account was fake until Twitter's communication team explained on Sunday night that it was suspended for "impersonation" based on "a valid report we received from Russian officials."

— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) November 29, 2018

The last available archive of Putin's English account is from November 18. The account was opened in November 2012. In 2014, Business Insider reported on tweets issued by the fake account as official statements of the Russian president.