MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. Russia will retaliate against Twitter’s decision to off-board advertising from all accounts owned by Russia Today television and the Sputnik news agency, Russian Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media Alexei Volin told TASS on Friday.

"We will take measures rather than speak about particular steps. We will always necessarily take tit-for-tat measures against all attempts to discriminate Russian companies," Volin said, without giving any further details.

Twitter explained on Thursday its decision was based on what it described as "retrospective work" it had been doing "around the 2016 US election and the US 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 $1.9mln 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."