Putin ally Rykov, who openly boasted about hacking election, had a US centered Twitter page.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

E-I-E-I-O.

For those unaware, just a refresher once again as to who Konstantin Rykov (nicknamed "Putin's Trollmaster" ) is, and what he posted on Facebook right after the election:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029322103

What is interesting is that besides his regular Facebook and Twitter accounts--which he used to brag unapologetically about his quasi-covert work, he also maintained a couple of secondary Twitter pages.

One was @rykov_fr, which he used almost exclusively to rally support for French far right candidate Marine Le Pen (who earlier this year lost to Emmanuel Macron in a race for the French presidency). That account had nearly 200 tweets--most of which were in Russian--all encompassing a time period from March 2014 through December 2014.

https://twitter.com/rykov_fr?lang=en

But besides that, he also had another Twitter page that was supposedly geared towards American matters, @rykov_usa. Unlike the French page, the postings were all in English. There were only 35 tweets total on this account, and the time span is very brief, ranging from August 14, 2014 through August 27, 2014.

Half of Rykov's postings come off as meaningless clickbait type articles, from a story on Chinese "facekinis" to one story hitting on the super hard issue of "13 things Carrie Bradshaw DIDN'T tell you about living in New York City."

But the other half of Rykov's tweets all have to do with a single story: the first round of protests in Ferguson, Missouri following the police shooting of Michael Brown. And what's most striking is that there's a certain duality in the approach. Half of the stories about Ferguson play up most violent angle of the protests, where the other half hit on militarized nature of the response by the Ferguson PD.

So you have this brief snapshot where Rykov appears to be playing both sides of a contentious issue. It's unclear as to how widespread Rykov's US Twitter page was disseminated (he only had 176 followers on this page) and it's mysterious why the page was abandoned after such a short period of time. Did Rykov want to go in another direction? Or was this page created solely to sew seeds of contention over a hotly contested issue?

Anyways, here is the link to Rykov's American themed page (where he utilizes a more Americanized "Constantine Rykov" screen name.):

https://twitter.com/rykov_usa

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. And an interesting side note about Rykov's pro-Le Pen Twitter page.

The account was opened up on March 30, 2014, shortly after Le Pen came out in support of a referendum in Crimea believed by most to be a sham but purportedly showed that the residents of the Ukrainian region overwhelmingly supported annexation by Russia following Putin's invasion of the region in late February 2014.

Leaked text messages purported to show a direct relationship between Russian government officials, Rykov and Le Pen that influenced Le Pen's decision to endorse the results of the dubious referendum.

The story in pertinent part:

https://news.vice.com/article/leaked-messages-allegedly-show-kremlin-paid-for-french-far-right-leader-to-endorse-crimea-annexation

Last March, Le Pen publicly recognized the results of Crimea's referendum to break from Ukraine and formally join the Russian Federation. Le Pen's stance was at odds with the common position held by France and other Western countries, including the United States, which viewed the referendum as "unlawful."

The same day that Le Pen vocalized her support of the referendum, Prokopenko allegedly sent text messages to Konstantin Rykov, a pro-Putin blogger also known as "Kostya," who, according to the hackers, had access to Le Pen.

In the messages, the two men applaud Le Pen's endorsement, saying that the party leader "has not betrayed our expectations." The two men agreed to "find a way of thanking the French."

[DetlefK]

2. That's Rykov's strategy: Co-opt both sides of a dissent to prevent uncontrolled dissent.

RT is bashing Trump and at the same time adulating him.

RT is bashing US militarism and yet refuses to call out Trump's militarism.

RT is treating "taking a knee" as something deeply unpatriotic (that will destroy the US from within) and at the same time making the case that "taking a knee" is actually about racism.

RT loves Crimea seceding from Ukraine via referendum, RT supports the idea that Catalonia tries to secede fom Spain via referendum, and yet they think that Kurdistan seceding from Iraq via referendum is inherently wrong.

RT pushes stories about Muslims committing hate-crimes towards non-Muslims, and then turns around and praises Russia as a country where Muslims can live in harmony with others.