💬 Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

On the night of August 5, Twitter suspended the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official English-language account for seven days, allegedly for posting excerpts from the briefing by Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, Commander of the Russian Armed Forces’ Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, about the biological warfare activity of the United States.

The harsh measure came in response to our tweet quoting the Russian Defence Ministry, which stated that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) could have been involved in the emergence of Covid-19. It is doubtful that Twitter has sufficient expertise to question the findings of the Defence Ministry that are based on reviewing documents and the latest data. Clearly, this is yet another awkward attempt to shut our mouths.

This is not the first time we have been subjected to such punishment. Some of our tweets have been blocked in the past. But suspending the official account of the foreign ministry of a major country, even if for a week, is beyond good and evil. The same trick has been tried on our embassies multiple times. The accounts of the Russian embassies in London and Berlin were suspended for posting, for example, facts (actual facts, not hoaxes) about the provocation in Bucha.

All this is happening amid the Russophobic madness of Western politicians, experts and even common users, as well as the unprecedented activity of Ukrainian trolls and bots. Tell me again about “inauthentic behaviour” ‒ the term Twitter used when cancelling unwanted bloggers with pro-Russia views over the past few years. Meanwhile, direct calls for violence and punishing Russians are now considered authentic in the West. I don’t recall a single suspension of a Ukrainian official account, despite generating eye-popping fakes in the style of former Ukrainian “ombudsperson” Lyudmila Denisova, who was spreading tales about “atrocities” and “rape” committed by Russian military officers.

☝️ Acting so cluelessly in violation of the freedom of speech, Twitter is shooting itself in the foot, with stubbornness that deserves a better application. This platform has been stagnating for a long time, with almost zero trust from users who are leaving it en masse.

It is not surprising that, once he realised the actual state of affairs, Elon Musk, appalled, broke off the deal to buy this social network.

So, they can block us all they want, but the truth will still find a way. We will just refrain from disseminating facts via US online platforms, which have become tools of censorship in the interests of Washington censors.

If Hemingway was alive, I am sure that Twitter would have blocked him too, for posting that he is under surveillance and hounded by the FBI