Russia’s Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said his posts on Twitter were removed. He answered a question from RIA Novosti via Telegram, explaining the situation.
Medvedev compared Twitter to how it was under former President Trump, when his account faced removal. He noted that Elon Musk and the platform faced challenges, but he suggested the network is not essential for Russia since it serves foreign interests and has been used to push propaganda. He added that the country now faces a different main goal: a decisive victory over its adversaries, naming Ukraine, the United States, NATO allies including Poland, and other Western entities as opponents. Medvedev wished everyone well on May Day and pledged to press forward.
What happened?
On April 29, Twitter removed two of Medvedev’s posts from both his English and Russian accounts. The first message, written in English and Polish, claimed that diplomatic ties with Poland should not continue as long as a Russian adversary remained in power and there were Polish mercenaries in Ukraine who should be stopped brutally. Twitter cited violations of its rules, and Medvedev later reposted the comment on his Russian blog.
Medvedev wrote that Twitter had restricted the display of his English post due to policy violations, while posts calling for Russia’s destruction appeared to be allowed. He tagged Elon Musk, asking how the decision was reached. The second deleted post also disappeared, and both accounts now display a notice stating that the messages violated Twitter policies.
The statements about Poland followed Warsaw’s decision to raid the Russian embassy grounds in Warsaw on April 29.
How Twitter was viewed in Russia
Earlier on April 10, Medvedev wrote on Twitter that Ukraine would not be valued by some and that it might soon vanish. Some users urged Musk to delete the tweet and block Medvedev’s blog, but Musk responded that the information landscape is largely propaganda and up to users to decide. Medvedev later asserted that Twitter would neither promote nor suppress accounts but would crack down on attempts to cheat the system.
Subsequently, pages of Russian government agencies became accessible to social media users, and some Western media accounts began to be labeled as state-funded. NPR and the BBC faced calls to remove such labels, with the BBC arguing its programming is independent. On the same day, Anton Gorelkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma information policy committee, proposed unblocking Twitter in Russia, arguing for continued dialogue and compliance with Russian law. The Safe Internet League expressed support for this approach.
Roskomnadzor, however, did not back the proposal, stating that Twitter still contained thousands of pieces of prohibited material, including content related to child exploitation, drugs, self-harm, protests, extremist links, and information about the Ukrainian conflict. The agency emphasized that other domestically produced platforms remain available for Russians to access information and communicate.