【】

The Russian Embassy in the UK is really stepping up its online trolling game.

SEE ALSO:A Russian embassy's Twitter account is taking shots at the U.S.

After using a meme of a duckling with the word "Lame" in response to U.S. President Barack Obama's sanctions against Russia, the embassy's verified UK Twitter account had a go at pundits who criticised a possible Russia-U.S. thaw in relations.

In doing so, the embassy used the infamous Pepe the Frog cartoon, which in September was added to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)'s database of hate symbols:

Tweet may have been deleted

The internet meme, created by cartoonist Matt Furie back in 2005, was adopted by neo-Nazis and serves as an icon of the so-called alt-right movement.

Mashable Light SpeedWant more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories?Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter.By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Thanks for signing up!

The ADL identified the image as a cartoon character "used by haters on social media to suggest racist, anti-Semitic or other bigoted notions, as a hate symbol."

Though the image did not originally represent hateful views, it eventually evolved into depictions of the frog portrayed with a "Hitler-like moustache, wearing a yarmulke or a Klan hood." 

While Trump disavowed the alt-right, he did re-tweet a caricature depicting him as Pepe the Frog in October 2015, with the caption "You Can't Stump the Trump":

Tweet may have been deleted

While the Russian embassy has been particularly active in their trolling of the Western governments, people on Twitter were stunned to see an alt-right symbol used by an official embassy's Twitter account:

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

---

Featured Video For You

---

What Are Memes and Virality?

---

TopicsSocial Media