As you've surely noticed by now, the relationship between the United States and Russia lately is best described as...tense.
As all this has happened, a new player has entered the fray to toss jabs off at the US: @RusEmbUSA, the official Twitter account of the Russian Embassy to the US.
#Grozny today is a peaceful, modern, and thriving city. Ain't that a solution we're all looking for? @JohnKerry?… https://t.co/OUHzWUBzmD
This tweet on Monday was aimed squarely at US Secretary of State John Kerry, who said in talks in the UK with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson that it seemed Russia was using a “Grozny strategy" — referring to the capital of Chechnya, which was all but destroyed after two wars — to pummel the city of Aleppo into submission no matter what the cost to civilian life.
The embassy tweeted that "#Grozny today is a peaceful, modern, and thriving city." (It is also under the control of an authoritarian, but that's neither here nor there.)
The hits have been forceful over the last few days, including this jab at the US and NATO following a Russian veto of a UN Security Council resolution on Syria this Saturday.
Last time #Russia abstained from vetoing a 'humanitarian' resolution proposed by the West, a state failed. We learn… https://t.co/k4Fv0ynWzh
Moscow abstained on the resolution allowing a no-fly zone in Libya during the Arab Spring in 2011; that resolution was then used to justify support for toppling Libya's dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi, leaving Russia infuriated.
The tweets coming from the embassy have ranged from the deadly serious and threatening towards the United States...
All jokes aside, #Russia will take every defensive measure necessary to protect its personnel stationed in #Syria f… https://t.co/NgDkncqe0R
(In this one it appears to be threatening to shoot down US planes that are providing air support to Syrian rebels, who Russia and the Syrian government unwaveringly refer to as terrorists.)
...to the more-than-a-little weird.
To #Russia with love. Happy Birthday, Vladimir Vladimirovich! #Putin
(It's a reference to Marilyn Monroe seductively singing "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy, so that's not unsettling at all.)
And the account's subtweet game? Oh, it's got that too.
While some are busy for months trying to tell 'moderates' from terrorists in #Aleppo, others provide humanitarian r… https://t.co/2Tth77S5y5
The Russian Embassy did not immediately respond to a BuzzFeed News' request to speak with the voice behind the account's increasingly standout voice.
#Lavrov to #Kerry on #Syria: separate moderates & terrorists, help normalise Aleppo, make rebels talk to Damascus |… https://t.co/B9S5yJ77VG