Russian PM quits in hacked tweet

Government (Foreign) // Moscow, Russia

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's Twitter account disowned President Putin and announced plans to take up freelance photography, after intruders compromised his social media feed.

Medvedev's Russian-language account was hacked around 10:20am Moscow time, prompting rapid damage control.

“It took PM's office several minutes to report the breach to the media,” RT reports.

The hacker sent off a flurry of tweets during the 40 minutes he or she was at the keyboard.

“I resign. I am ashamed for the actions of the government. I'm sorry,” the first tweet said.

“I'll still be a freelance photographer,” another one said.

“I've been longing to say this. Vova [Putin]! you are wrong!” another said.

The hacker might be Russian, since the messages display a grasp of the nation’s political memes. One tweet addressed to President Vladimir Putin channeled Mikhail Gorbachev, who said “Boris, you are wrong!” to Boris Yeltsin in response to his criticism of the Communist Party in 1988.