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Facebook users have poured scorn on a promise by Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev to investigate reports of electoral fraud.
At least
4,000 comments appeared under his post a day after the biggest anti-government
protests since Soviet times.
A random
sample showed two-thirds of the comments were hostile.
Mr
Medvedev, who prides himself on the use of social media, recently suffered an
embarrassment when an obscenity was sent from his Twitter account.
Having
already conceded that some violations of electoral law had taken place at the
parliamentary elections last Sunday, he went on Facebook to say he had issued
instructions for all official reports on the conduct of the polls to be
checked.
But it was
his comments on Saturday's election protests - some 50,000 people turned out in
Moscow alone - which drew particular anger.
'Pathetic
liar'
"I do
not agree with either the slogans or statements heard at the rallies," Mr
Medvedev wrote.
Facebook
users pointed out that the chief, official slogan of the rallies had been
"For Honest Elections".
"So
you're against the slogan 'For Honest Elections'?" was a typical comment.
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Medvedev on social media
|
"Pathetic
liar", was another, while some writers peppered their observations with
obscenities, visible just under the president's message.
Of the 100
comments viewed by the BBC News website, roughly a third were hostile, and the
rest divided about equally into supportive and neutral.
Earlier in
the week, the Kremlin blamed a member of staff for an obscene message sent from
Mr Medvedev's official Russian-language Twitter account.
Russian
bloggers delighted in forwarding the message, circulating screenshots after it
had been deleted from Mr Medvedev's account.
Twitter,
Facebook and other social media have been used extensively both by Russian
opposition activists seeking to uncover electoral fraud and organise protests,
and Kremlin supporters.
Russian Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin maintains a much lower profile on the internet.
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