Twitter has verified the accounts of the Russian Interior Ministry's offices in occupied Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
The blue verification badge was granted on February 11.
So far, Twitter has not publicly commented on grounds for verification green light.
"Verified" batch for Russia-manned Crimean Twitter accounts: Latest
Twitter has recently verified the account of the Russian Foreign Ministry's representative office in the city of Simferopol (Crimea).
Ukraine's First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Emine Dzhaparova (Dzheppar) called it "unacceptable".
Ukraine's Embassy in the U.S. said it was working jointly with the MFA Headquarters and the Consulate General of Ukraine in San Francisco to have the Russian foreign ministry's Crimea office account on Twitter deactivated. Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko has sent a relevant appeal to Twitter management.
Russian occupation of Crimea
Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in March 2014 after its troops had occupied the peninsula. An illegal referendum was held amid the aggressive takeover on the issue of the peninsula's accession to Russia. De-facto Crimean authorities claimed that 96.77% of the Crimean population had allegedly supported the move.
Read alsoNATO stepping up support for Ukraine in Black SeaOn March 18, 2014, the so-called agreement on the accession of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the Russian Federation was signed off in the Kremlin.
Western powers never recognized the Crimea annexation attempt and imposed sanctions on Russia over aggression against Ukraine.
Ukraine's parliament voted to designate February 20, 2014, as the official date for the start of the temporary occupation of Crimea.
