Ed Bentley and Anna Arutunya

Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, has joined the Twitter craze - bringing bite-sized chunks of the alliance's work to a wide audience.

Although the US-developed communications revolution has yet to catch on in Russia, Rogozin already has 925 followers, eagerly awaiting his next 140-or-less character missive from the meeting rooms.

"Personally, I find it fun," he told The Moscow News. "Also I think a politician should use various instruments to explain his views. The mass media is one thing, but with so many people using the internet I started a Twitter account.

"It's convenient: if I'm at an event I can post from my mobile phone. And 140 characters is good for discipline - it helps formulate my thoughts."

Not all of those thoughts are particularly reverential of the arcane mechanisms of international diplomacy - on October 15, political hot air had Rogozin recording: "The Ambassadorial EAPC meeting was somewhat boring. I watched 2 flies die of the delivered speeches : )."

Unlike President Dmitry Medvedev, Rogozin doesn't have time to regularly update a blog, but he finds Twitter a good way to keep up to date with the political world.

"A lot of people in politics are on Twitter, including people in the government," he added. "These include my colleagues in NATO, even the General Secretary. I read him, he reads me and this is a positive thing for our relationship."

Rogozin's comments veer from commuting complaints to pithy political critiques - on Monday he posted: "I'm driving in Brussels for almost 2 years and still can't get used to local traffic. Belgian drivers are utterly aggressive & unpredictable".

A little while earlier, though, he was urging State Duma deputies to defend Russia: "I'd wish RF's Mps to take a harder line in defending our stand at debates. Not a single insult inflicted on RUS should be left unattended!"

Another politician who has caught the Twitter bug is Just Russia Duma Deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, who gives regular updates and opinions in both Russian and English as well as links to the top stories of the day.

But while Rogozin and Ponomaryov have followed in the online steps of Barack Obama and many other Western politicians, the rest of Russia's elite has yet to catch on.

Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov uses a Live Journal blog to promote his policies, as well as bemoaning last month's elections.

He told readers the polls "ceased to be legitimate after the removal of all opposition candidates."

And Medvedev claims real life successes from the virtual world of his blog on Live Journal, pointing at Ryazan hospital No. 11 which received an extensive renovation after photos of it in a dilapidated state were posted on kremlin.ru.

Despite any success the Internet has achieved in developing political dialogue it is fraught with danger for politicians.

In the US, Republican senator Peter Hoekstra came across more twit than tweeter in February when he posted "just landed in Baghdad" on what was meant to be a confidential visit, before a stream of revelations about his location.

"However, it is extremely rare that they post something inappropriate or embarrassing." said Jen Golbeck of the University of Maryland, who conducted a study into US politicians twitter use when speaking about Hoekstra's repeated blunders.

Analysts of the Twitter phenomenon remain dubious about the service's merits, however.

Psychologist Oliver James said: "It's a virtual phenomenon, with an illusion of a communication for both sides but with nothing real happening as a result."

And he added: "Twitter is subscribed to by people who feel isolated, lacking in intimate personal relationships, and who need constant distractions from the despair or emptiness they may be feeling."

Meanwhile it remains a marginal part of Russian society, with only a handful of celebs signing up - and mostly failing to post.

Among the ghost accounts, popstrel Anna Ranetka, of girlband Ranetki, told everyone she was "going to sleep" on October 11. Her 14 followers waited several weeks to hear that she had woken once more.

And long before shaving his head to advertise a new magazine, flamboyant crooner Fillipp Kirkorov sentgreeted to the world on May 14 before disappearing into the virtual twilight.

One Russian user, Maria Sokolova agreed that Twitter and other social media were good for spreading news, comment and opinions on politics and society because many people felt they couldn't trust official news sources any more.

"Many Russians, especially the young ones, almost hate news, newspapers and politics etc," she said. "But paradoxically they like to have conversations about what Zhirinovsky did last week in their blogs."