(Note strong language in paragraph 4)
MOSCOW, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Russian President DmitryMedvedev caused shock and jeers on Wednesday after an obsceneinsult directed at political opponents appeared on his officialTwitter feed.
The Kremlin chief and his more powerful mentor PrimeMinister Vladimir Putin have been facing growing opposition totheir rule by protesters who say parliamentary elections onSunday were not fair.
The offensive post appeared to have been retweetedon the MedvedevRussia feed at 33 minutes past midnight,according to cached copies of the feed and a notification of thepost received by a Reuters reporter.
"It has become clear that if a person writes the expression'party of swindlers and thieves' in their blog then they are astupid sheep getting f@cked in the mouth :)" the post read.
The phrase "Party of swindlers and thieves" is used by theopposition to describe Medvedev's ruling United Russia party. Itwas coined by prominent anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny,who was sentenced to 15 days in prison on Tuesday for his rolein the anti-Putin protests.
The Kremlin said "an improper retweet" had appeared onMedvedev's account and blamed an unidentified official forhaving interfered with the feed. "The guilty will be punished,"it said in a statement.
The retweet of such an embarrassing post appeared to runcontrary to Medvedev's image as an educated, Twitter-savvyleader.
Reports of the Twitter mishap immediately garnered thousandsof hits on Russian-language websites, with one headline reading:"Medvedev loses control of his own Twitter." Others expressedshock at such crude language from a Kremlin chief.
The original tweet can be seen here: http://twitpic.com/7pfly7 (Reporting By Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)