Twitter Through the Years: The RuNet Edition · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Dmitry Medvedev opened his Twitter account at the network's HQ in Silicon Valley in June 2010. Image from kremlin.ru.
Where were you when Alexey Navalny or Dmitry Medvedev published their first tweets?
For Twitter's 10-year anniversary, the Russian news outlet Kommersant published a feature story called “Long Story Short,” collecting dozens of “the most emblematic” tweets that Kommersant's reporters believe best showcase the microblogging service's growing influence in the fields of communication, news, politics and society.
The tweets span the years from Twitter's creation to our time and bring to memory some of the most exultant and tragic moment in recent history: finding water on Mars; the introduction of hashtags; Michael Jackson's death; protests in Tunisia and the rest of the Arab Spring; #OccupyWallStreet; the Boston bombings; the Roman Pope and Dalai Lama getting on Twitter; the Ice Bucket Challenge; and so much more.
Quite a few of the “historic” tweets selected by Kommersant come from the Russian segment of Twitter. RuNet Echo has translated the relevant messages, as well as Kommersant reporters’ explanation of the tweets’ significance, below. The tweets are arranged in chronological order, as they appeared on Twitter.
http://navalny.livejournal.com/411199.html
Травим ВТБ.
И это моя первая запись, кстати
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) November 30, 2009
We're bullying VTB. Oh, and by the way, this is my first tweet.
Comment: The first tweet highlighted by Kommersant was from political activist Alexey Navalny promoting a post he had written on a probe looking into money laundering at the state-owned bank VTB. “In the first few days after the investigation into VTB Bank ‘How They Steal at VTB’ was announced on Alexey Navalny's famous LiveJournal blog and on his new Twitter account,” Kommersant wrote, the investigation “was read by 70,000 people.”
Всем привет! Я в Твиттере и это мое6 первое сообщение!
— Дмитрий Медведев (@MedvedevRussia) June 23, 2010
Hello, everyone! I'm on Twitter and this is my6 first message!
Comment: “Medvedev's account, which gained a record number of followers on the RuNet Twitter, was registered at the network's HQ in California, which then President Medvedev famously visited in 2010.”
Всем привет! Я в Твиттере и это моёб первое сообщение!
— Пeрзидент Роисси (@KermlinRussia) June 25, 2010
Hello, everyone! I am on Twitter and this is myb first message!
Comment: “One of the most popular microblogs in the Russian Twitter segment, KermlinRussia, was launched as a parody of the Russian President's official Twitter account (just a few days after Medvedev launched his own).”
By the way, quite a few Russian Internet luminaries, journalists and politicians posted their first tweets some time in 2009-2010.
“The Rain” is Putin's new nickname
Comment: “After a terrible rain shower in Moscow, a Russian word (дождь—”rain”) featured in Twitter's top-10 world trending topics for the first time. The second Russian word that trended, five months later, was “Manezhnaya” (square).”
@DZelenin: This happens in Alexandrovsky hall as well. They serve beef with a salad featuring live earthworms.
Comment: “Dmitry Zelenin, governor of Tver region in 2010, published a tweet with a photo from a dinner at the Kremlin. The tweet was deleted very soon, and Zelenin resigned ahead of his term six months later.”
#yukos Ходорковский и Лебедев, после оглашения первых строк приговора, похоже, потеряли интерес к происходящему
— Радио Свобода (@SvobodaRadio) December 27, 2010
#yukos Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, after the first lines of the verdict have been read, have lost interest in the proceedings, it seems
Comment: “Although court proceedings in Russia had been livetweeted for several years (including the one in Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Yukos case), the Supreme Court officially allowed livetweeting only in December 2012.”
@riapress: Mikhail Gorbachev has died in SHOKO cafe, Yekaterinburg. He was at a table with Yevgeny Roizman discussing the coming elections
Comment: “In response to the tweet posted by the hackers who hijacked the RIA Novosti press center Twitter account, the former president of the USSR said: ‘I am alive and well. Stop trampling Gorbachev, as they say.'”
А также МЫ НАЧИНАЕМ ИГРУ #путинбинго: ВАРИАНТ 1 http://t.co/Avsjn5Cjse
ВАРИАНТ 2 http://t.co/7A77CTPbj6
ВАРИАНТ 3 http://t.co/6nHNKJ5kGa
— Lenta.ru (@lentaruofficial) December 19, 2013
And also, WE BEGIN THE #putinbingo GAME:
OPTION 1
OPTION 2
OPTION 3
Comment: “The bingo game tracking words uttered by the Russian president during an annual press-conference was announced on Twitter and paralyzed the work of half of Moscow's offices.” Words to be tracked included “pensions,” “order,” “lawbreakers,” “implementation,” and “conservative.” “Navalny,” “Ukraine,” and “Russia” also had a place of honor on the list.
Законы обязательны для всех.Но отдельным чиновникам нужно думать,прежде чем объявлять в интервью о закрытии соцсетей https://t.co/V1nu5aykin
— Дмитрий Медведев (@MedvedevRussia) May 16, 2014
The laws are mandatory for everyone. But certain officials better think before announcing in an interview that social networks will be blocked.
Comment: “Dmitry Medvedev, now the prime-minister of Russia, criticized the deputy head of Roscomnadzor Maxim Ksendzov, who threatened Twitter with blocking in Russia.”
@villemilonov: Democracy is in hell, and in heaven there's a kingdom
Comment: “This is the content of one of the last tweets of lawmaker Vitaly Milonov, whose Twitter account was suspended for violating the social network's terms of use.”
Доброе утро! Вот так выглядит в конце октября Веденское ущелье. pic.twitter.com/tXwcNuIYAt
— Рамзан Кадыров (@RKadyrov) October 22, 2014
Good morning! This is what Vedensky Gorge looks like at the end of October.
Comment: “On the same day head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov—one of he main stars of the Russian Twitter segment—gave an interview to TASS in which he suggested blocking access to Twitter in Russia.”
#Космоселфи от Геннадия Падалки, которое он сделал во время своего десятого выхода в открытый космос 10 августа pic.twitter.com/8UEsrd7Fjx
— РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) August 17, 2015
#Cosmoselfie from Gennady Padalka, which he made during his tenth space walk on August 10th.
Comment: “Russian astronaut shot a selfie with the International Space Station in the background.”