[Infowarrior] - US officials, Web executives to visit Russia

[Richard Forno]

US officials, Web executives to visit Russia

Tue Feb 16, 6:38 pm ET

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100216/pl_afp/usrussiaitcompanydiplomacyinternet/print

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US officials and executives from eBay, Twitter and other Web companies are to visit Russia to discuss using social media to improve relations, the State Department said Tuesday.

The delegation, which is to visit Russia from February 17 to 23, will hold meetings with representatives of the Russian government, universities, private companies, and non-governmental organizations, it said in a statement.

"They will discuss how social media and other innovative technologies can be used to strengthen and broaden ties between the United States and Russia," the State Department said.

The delegation will visit Moscow and Novosibirsk, it said.

It will be led by Jared Cohen of the State Department's Office of Policy Planning and Howard Solomon of the National Security Council and will include White House chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra.

The State Department said eBay, Twitter, Cisco, Howcast, EDventure, Social Gaming Network and Mozilla were among the companies sending representatives.

Twitter, Facebook and LiveJournal were among the websites which came under cyberattack last year in an assault that Web security companies said were aimed at silencing a pro-Georgian blogger.

The Georgian blogger, known only as "Cyxymu," blamed Russia for the attacks and said they were meant to silence his criticism of Moscow's role in the Georgia-Russia war.