Outrage in Ukraine as Twitter Verifies Crimea Government Page

Ukrainian officials have asked Twitter to block a page run by Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in occupied Crimea. The page recently received official verification from Twitter – a move which generated outrage on social media.

Twitter is a private American social media company which sets its own policies when it comes to granting verification. For example, the United States and most members of the international community do not recognize the de-facto state of Taiwan, but Twitter verified multiple Taiwanese government pages.

The Embassy of Ukraine in the United Kingdom has filed an official complaint and has requested the page to be blocked.

"We sent an official request to Twitter’s technical team. It is completely unacceptable to verify the so-called Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in occupied Crimea. Russia illegally annexed Crimea, militarized it, and grossly violated the rights of people. Twitter must block this account," said the embassy.

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called the embassy's request "Ukraine's struggle with reality," according to RBC news agency.

The Russian Federation illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula in March 2014. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the subsequent fighting in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian soldiers and Moscow-backed separatists since then.

/By LP Luo