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Russian senator deletes Twitter account in solidarity with RT, Sputnik

"Right now I see that, apparently, it [Twitter] is dependent in its actions, it is highly politicized," Konstantin Kosachev said
The chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev Valery Sharifulin/TASS
The chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev
© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. The chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, deleted his Twitter account after the microblog service decided to off-board advertising from all accounts owned by Russia Today television and the Sputnik news agency on Thursday.

"I’m a Twitter user myself and until now I relied on the independence of this website. Right now I see that, apparently, it is dependent in its actions, it is highly politicized. That’s why I have made a decision to unsubscribe from Twitter and to delete my account there. You may treat it as a sign of solidarity with RT and Sputnik, if you wish," Kosachev said in an RT comment.

At the moment, Kosachev’s Twitter account cannot be accessed, with the website saying that "page does not exist." Kosachev’s Facebook account is still active, however.

The online news and social networking service Twitter, the owner of the same-name microblog service, has made a decision to remove advertising from all accounts of the RT, a Russian English-language television channel broadcasting around the world, including the United States, and the news agency Sputnik. The decision is effective immediately, Twitter said on Thursday.

Twitter explains this decision is based on what it describes as "retrospective work" it has been doing "around the 2016 U.S. election and the U.S. intelligence community’s claims" that "both RT and Sputnik attempted to interfere with the election on behalf of the Russian government."

According to the statement, RT and Sputnik are free to remain users on the platform. Twitter has also decided to take the $1.9 million it is projected to have earned from RT global advertising since they became an advertiser in 2011 and donate those funds "to support external research into the use of Twitter in civic engagement and elections.".