When Theresa May stood up in parliament on Wednesday and said that the Russian reaction to the use of a nerve agent on British soil had been “sarcasm, contempt, and defiance” she must in part have been referring to the social media output of Russia’s UK embassy since the news broke of Sergei Skripal’s poisoning.

While the embassy’s official response has been terse and sober – a 57-word statement that describes the UK’s diplomatic expulsions as a “hostile action” that is “totally unacceptable, unjustified and shortsighted” – its Twitter activity has been anything but restrained; instead it has frequently goaded May’s government.

On Wednesday night, following the announcement of the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats described as “undeclared intelligence officers” by May, the embassy tweeted an image of a thermometer. Describing the temperature of relations between the two countries as dropping to -23C. The tweet finished “but we are not afraid of cold weather”.

The temperature of 🇷🇺 🇬🇧 relations drops to ➖2️⃣3️⃣, but we are not afraid of cold weather. pic.twitter.com/mand9YyoaE — Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) March 14, 2018

It was the latest in a series of tweets the embassy has posted to fight the Russian corner in the dispute over the poisoning. On 13 March a series of tweets suggested that the UK was guilty of provocation over the Salisbury incident, implied that the government were spreading fake news, and threatened “equal and opposite” Russian retaliation to any sanctions imposed by the UK.



5/7 Without that, there can be no sense in any statements from London. The incident appears to be yet another crooked attempt by the UK authorities to discredit Russia. pic.twitter.com/VLk6UCePVj — Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) March 13, 2018

6/7 Any threat to take “punitive” measures against Russia will meet with a response. The British side should be aware of that. pic.twitter.com/DFAaB5orQE — Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) March 13, 2018

The tactic can be very effective. Most of the tweets the Russians have published during the Skripal affair have been getting around 200 retweets. The temperature drop tweet, however, was shared nearly a thousand times. The oddball approach to diplomacy gets the Russian message spread further.



It makes a sharp contrast with the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office approach to the same issue. The UK government has been putting their view across with slickly produced but very formal animations.

It was right to offer Russia the opportunity to provide an explanation. But their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events. pic.twitter.com/dv2EiTDRTQ — Foreign Office 🇬🇧 (@foreignoffice) March 14, 2018

The Russian embassy has also been active on social media in rejecting the label “Russian spy” that has frequently been applied to Sergei Skripal in the British media, tweeting that “by calling a MI6 agent ‘Russian’ media sets an agenda for public opinion and investigation”.



As the best known face of British intelligence services, the Russians even threw a James Bond joke into their attempts to push this line.



Does Russia’s dialing code 007 make James Bond a “Russian spy”? 🕵️‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/JJW8r5un73 — Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) March 11, 2018

The Skripal poisoning has brought the communications from the Russian embassy into sharp relief, but this has been a continuation of a social media tactic that the Russians have been using for some time, especially around accusations that Russia has been meddling in US and European elections and referendums.



MFA: want to learn more about foreign interference? Buy "Hard choices" by @HillaryClinton and read about USA shameless meddling in other countries' affairs on every single page. pic.twitter.com/yVBnGyB6H7 — Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) March 3, 2018

The topic was used for a joke suggesting British weather was interfering in Russian democracy.

British weather interfered with Russian Presidential elections – early voting in Belfast on 3 March not taking place due to cancelled flights. pic.twitter.com/jLYI12XvOW — Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) March 2, 2018

The embassy also frequently uses social media to take issue with British media reporting of Russia, especially on Russian involvement in Syria. But it also occasionally reacts to things as trivial as an unfavourable film review.



.@thetimes fails to get the point of the film, which is quite the opposite - message of understanding. “Fish can’t see water”. See @Attraction_UK , now on UK-wide release, and judge for yourself! pic.twitter.com/c7eRsZ0p9K — Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) January 19, 2018

The mix of humour and political sarcasm has worked well in driving a social media following. With more than 67,000 Twitter followers, @RussianEmbassy has more followers than any other G20 country’s diplomatic mission to the UK. And after a recent Twitter purge of fake and “bot” accounts, the Russians were proudly boasting that at least 99.8% of their followers were genuine.

Lost around 100 followers after #TwitterLockOut – means the rest 99.8% are real. We are proud of our amazing followers! pic.twitter.com/qgIbQdG6Hi — Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) February 22, 2018

Some of the tweets have no political overtones at all, and are just outright attempts at providing topical humour.

Not, it seems, with Sergei Skripal and his daughter still in hospital, that anybody in the UK government has been laughing at the Russian embassy’s jokes this week.