Russia Has Just Claimed Mount Everest

 Damien Sharkov,Newsweek

Updated | From the Pacific Ocean to the Arctic, Russia has a number of controversial and contested territorial claims. 

But on Monday, Moscow’s diplomatic branch shocked the internet, albeit briefly, with a fresh claim over the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest.

The Russian Embassy in Britain posted one of its regular good morning greetings on Twitter. As usual, it was accompanied by a picture—except, this time, it wasn't of a location in Russia. 

Deleted tweet from the Russian Embassy in the U.K., describes Mount Everest as Russian territory. Twitter

The embassy has attracted the ire of social media users before, and as in previous cases, dozens of responses flooded in. Many were quick to insist China and Nepal may take issue with Moscow’s odd claim, while some accused the embassy of seeking to grab attention with the post.

One commenter likened the post to Russia’s claim over Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014. Another said perhaps the administrator confused Everest for the tallest peak in Russia—Mount Elbrus, in the Caucasus Mountains.

The embassy claimed the post was the result of a glitch and dismissed suspicion of any malicious intent toward the foreign landmark of Everest.

“It's just a technical mistake,” the press desk of the embassy tells Newsweek in a statement, shortly after the post was deleted from its Twitter feed. “Of course, Everest is not in Russia,” the embassy added, noting that the content had somehow fallen into its social content from an article about Russia’s latest expedition to Everest.

After deleting the post, the embassy reissued its Twitter morning greeting with a much more recognizably Russian image, St. Basil’s cathedral in Moscow.

Twitter has seen a handful of verbal clashes between Russia’s verified government accounts and Ukraine’s, as the two countries quarrel over sanctions.

While Russia posted footage of medieval re-enactors as a show if its strength against new U.S. sanctions, Ukraine was quick to reply: “If you'd respected international law, you would've avoided sanctions & would've been sending missions to Mars now, not running with sticks.”

Correction: This article has been ammended to reflect that Mount Everest is on the border of China and Nepal.

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-just-claimed-mount-everest-120156503.html