Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs tells the State Department to 'calm down'

The Russian Foreign Ministry building.
(Image credit: BORIS YELENIN/AFP/Getty Images)

Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs aired its grievances with the U.S. State Department in a snarky tweet Wednesday, imploring the American agency to "calm down."

"Your propaganda machine is out of control," the MFA wrote to Heather Nauert, the State Department's spokeswoman. "You're spamming all of us."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The MFA Twitter account also retweeted the official account of the Russian embassy in the U.S., which claimed that Nauert had "distorted the reality" regarding a requested meeting between Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

While the MFA account doesn't often engage in Twitter spats, it wasn't the first time the State Department was on the receiving end of a scathing message from Russia's foreign affairs representative. "Why are you interfering? Surely, Europeans can speak for themselves," the account tweeted last week in response to a post about gas supplies.

Explore More
Summer Meza, The Week US

Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.