Is the Kremlin Trying to Stop Governors from Using Twitter? · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

In an article [ru] published earlier this week, Izvestia newspaper cited anonymous sources inside the Kremlin who claim that the federal government is now discouraging regional heads and governors from communicating publicly through Twitter. The unofficial motto is “produce results in ‘real deeds,’ not online,” though the paper speculates that the Kremlin is more interested in avoiding the repeat of scandals involving state officials tweeting embarrassing remarks. Kirov Governor and popular blogger Nikita Belykh denies [ru] any campaign against Twitter, which he claims to use as a “continuation of maximum openness” with his constituents.