The Russian government says it is “reconsidering” its policy to Twitter after it appears the US company started to close Russian opposition accounts.

Russian authorities threatened to block Twitter within the next 30 days on March 16 if the company failed to delete content the government says is “illegal,” pointing to content containing pornography and advice on how to commit suicide.

However, Kremlin critics say the move is also political and an attempt to silence criticism ahead of crucial parliamentary elections on September 19 this year.

The state regulator also asked Twitter to delete @MBKhMedia, the account of an opposition media funded by former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who has since become an outspoken Kremlin critic. That account was still working as of March 21, but other opposition voices have had their accounts de-activated by Twitter.

One of twitter’s most prominent commentators on Russia @russian_market contacted bne IntelliNews via a new account after his widely read account was blocked by twitter. The US company gave no explanation for the decision, according to Russian_market.

“@bneeditor Privet, Ben. This is @Russian_Market blogger writing. I know we followed each other for many years. Just wanted to tell you that Twitter banned me without any explanations. Twitter is starting to ban Russian voices. Incredible but true. Thank you for your support!” Russian_market said in a message to bne IntelliNews.

The Russian authorities have already arrested and fined other twitter users for the content of their posts, in some cases threatening lengthy jail sentances.

Twitter told the Guardian it had no comment to make on the most Russian authorities threat. The US-based company earlier denied that the platform was being used to promote illegal activities, and said it was concerned about how pressure from the Russian authorities could curb free speech.

While Russian_market has never revealed his true identity, it is known that he is a Russian national that used to work for an investment bank based in Switzerland.

However, as bne IntelliNews reported, Russian_market was sacked by UBS in January for openly supporting jailed Russian anti-corruption blogger and opposition activist Alexei Navalny and calling for his release, according to reports in the Swiss press.

UBS did not respond to requests to comment on the firing of Russian_market but commentators speculated that it was afraid of annoying the Kremlin, as the bank has significant business in Russia with many of the leading state-owned enterprises (SOEs), amongst other clients.

With over 200,000 followers, the Russian_market account was one of the most widely followed of all the privately run accounts. Although Russian_market is a liberal and critical of the Kremlin, he also offered a balanced view of Russia’s progress as well as presenting facts and charts because of his job, so the account often offered unique insights into the Russia story. He was so well known that Bloomberg anchor Francine Lacqua repeatedly invited Russian_market on to her show, an offer he politely refused.

A week after threatening to shut twitter down in Russia, the Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that it was increasingly happy with response by Twitter and was going to “reconsider its approach to twitter, due to changes announced by social network.”

"We also want our policies to remain relevant to the ever-changing nature of political discourse on Twitter, so we are reconsidering our approach to Twitter," Zakharova said, commenting on the network’s statement, as cited by Tass.