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3 Mar 2014

Louise Mensch vs Russia – the Twitter row

Former Tory MP Louise Mensch and the Russian embassy in the UK engage in an unusual Twitter spat on the weekend over the deteriorating situation in Ukraine.

Louise Mensch and Vladimir Putin (picture: Getty)

Ms Mensch, who now lives in the US, tweeted on Sunday that the only real “red lines” in the Ukrainian crisis belong to Vladimir Putin “and they are marching west” – a criticism of Barack Obama’s response to the situation, in which Russia has taken control of the Crimea region.

Less than 20 minutes later the Russian embassy responded, suggesting Ms Mensch read a statement on the embassy’s website.

The statement points to the rise of “xenophobic, anti-semitic, neo-fascist” elements in the leadership of Ukraine. It says that far-right Ukrainian leader Dmitry Yarosh, a popular leader in the Ukrainian Maidan protests, has called for an alliance with Doku Umarov, “the most-wanted leader of the Chechen terrorists with close links to al-Qaeda”.

The statement also criticises the foreign ministers of Germany, Poland and France for declaring a deal aimed at ending the political crisis, on 21 February, to have been “overtaken by events”. The collapse of the deal led to the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych, who the Russian embassy said is the “legitimate head of state”.

The statement reads: “Given the extraordinary situation in Ukraine, the threat to the lives of Russian nationals and our compatriots, as well as the Black Sea fleet personnel, President Vladimir Putin has been compelled to use his constitutional powers and to seek approval of the upper chamber of parliament, the Federation Council, for use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation in the territory of Ukraine pending normalisation of public order and political situation in that country.

“That request has been granted, although that doesn’t mean that the president will use his powers immediately.”

It was also announced on the weekend that UK ministers would be boycotting the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games because of events in Ukraine.

What followed was an extraordinary row between Ms Mensch, the Russian embassy, and other political leaders, as detailed in some of the tweets below.