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Moscow urges Twitter to unblock account of Russian Embassy in Syria

The incident occured on July 30 following Russia's outcry against the White Helmets

Russian Embassy in Syria Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

Russian Embassy in Syria

© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. Russia calls on Twitter to unblock the official account of the Russian diplomatic mission in Damascus, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Twitter on Wednesday.

"The official account of the Russian Embassy in Syria was blocked by Twitter yesterday without any explanation. We consider it an act of censorship and flagrant violation of freedom of speech committed by the social media administration," the ministry stressed. "We urge Twitter to immediately unblock the Russian Embassy in Syria."

️‍♂️ Thought police is already here - @twitter suspends account of the Russian Embassy in #Syria (!) after it posted factual criticism of the #WhiteHelmets, quoted @mod_russia data. Wasn't verified account yet - only proves "ordinary" accounts not allowed to have differing opinions pic.twitter.com/sMUZRvbidx
— Russia in RSA (@EmbassyofRussia) July 30, 2019

The Russian Embassy in South Africa earlier tweeted that the account of the Russian diplomatic mission in Syria had been suspended after it posted criticism of the White Helmets NGO, citing data provided by the Russian Defense Ministry.

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On July 29, Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of Russia’s General Staff, Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi said that militants in Syria had launched a massive campaign to discredit Russia’s operation in the Idlib de-escalation zone. In particular, the White Helmets use fake videos to spread disinformation about Russia’s alleged airstrikes against civilians in Syria, he noted.

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