Ruckus Erupts After Raunchy Medvedev Tweet

(Newser) – Well, this isn't very presidential: Dmitry Medvedev appeared to retweet a disparaging remark against jailed opposition activist Alexei Navalny shortly after riot police stopped a second post-election protest Tuesday night. "Today it became clear that a person who writes in their blog the words 'party of crooks and thieves' is a stupid, c*cksucking sheep :)," read the tweet originally posted by Konstantin Rykov, a clear reference to Navalny. Medvedev's retweet was quickly deleted, but evidence of it will exist forever thanks to screenshots and caches, the Guardian reports.

The Russian blogosphere quickly erupted, and despite a denial from the Kremlin, many aren't quite ready to write off the possibility that Medvedev really did send the offending tweet. The Kremlin blames the "incorrect retweet" on "an employee in charge of technical support," and promises, "the guilty will be punished." Even that caused liberals to rejoice: Some took it to mean that an employee intended to make the president look bad. As one tweeted in response, "Dear Kremlin! You just admitted that our people also exist in the Kremlin. Thank you." Click to see who Vladimir Putin blames for Russia's post-election protests.