President Vladimir Putin has made it known at several points, not without a hint of pride, that he does not use the Internet.  Doubtless his disdain for all matters web-oriented stems in part from it being the favored tool of the seditious opposition bandar-logs (or ‘hamsters‘) who are determined to unpick his presidency.

However realpolitik does demand that the Kremlin engage with all tools of political communication and it has, in the past, tried to commandeer social media for its own agenda.  Howard Amos reports on the latest attempt to gain a foothold in cyberspace: