Russian embassy embarrasses itself with ‘After tough time’ card tweet: Chief of Staff Biden wants to quit

You wanted to hand it out, but hit yourself in the forehead – that happened to the Russian embassy in Sweden. The background: gas prices, a map and a tweet.

On Monday, Sweden’s Russian embassy tweeted a map showing current petrol prices in Europe in color. The idea is clear: they want to show how bad things are going in the West (because gasoline is so expensive there) and how well things are going in Russia (where gasoline is extremely cheap). In fact, the contrast between dark green Russia and fire red Finland is striking.

Equally striking is the color difference between Russia and Russian Crimea, although both are one country… wait a minute, what? The so-called People’s Republics of Lugansk and Donetsk also shine in Ukrainian yellow. You would almost think that Russia now recognizes the national borders over which it has been at war for years.

And if it wasn’t embarrassing enough, there’s also Kosovo, for which no data is available; it is colored black – unlike the orange Serbia. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as its own state and sees it only as a breakaway province. Recently, tensions on the ground have risen again. The fact that Russia, as a historical ally, is now separating the two through a public channel is likely to offend Serbia.

Even if it’s a map from an outside organization, it’s very embarrassing when a government agency publishes something without adhering to its own principles, some of which are plain wrong. By the way: since January 8, maps with the “old” borders (ie Crimea and the republics near Ukraine) have been banned in Russia. They are considered “extremist material”.

(cpf)