Thread by @P_Kallioniemi

In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a social media personality and LARPer, @trollstoy88 AKA Richard Z. He's best-known for acting to be Russian, and for his pro-Russian tweets on the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Most of the research presented here was done by the NAFO Team.

1/22

.@Trollstoy88 belongs to the "big three" of pro-Russian Twitter analysts/political commentators, the other two being a Serbian nurse, @200_zoka, and Austrian IT support guy, @GeromanAT.

There's also @WarMonitors, but he seems to be more anti-NATO than pro-Russia.

2/22

For a long time, Dick's been claiming to be Russian. In reality, he lives in West Germany in a small town near Düsseldorf and Cologne. Ironically, he's even called for Russia to invade Berlin, declaring that it's actually a Baltic Prussian city named Veletian.

3/22

His tweets are something you'd expect from an actual Russian: praise of Putin, Russia's military and its culture (especially women). He really embraces the "third Holy Rome" versus the "decadent West" idea, and regards Putin as some kind of savior of humankind.

4/22

Dick also often overestimates and praises the Russian equipment, mocks Zelensky, blames NATO and the West for the war. And of course he blames the West for the "coup" that didn't take place during the Revolution of Dignity in 2014.

5/22

Interestingly, he's also played the reverse card on the genocide accusations, stating that Ukrainians and Russians are brother-nations, and that it's actually the West that's committing "world genocide" and "will be stopped".

6/22

In his analysis, Richard relies heavily on Douglas Macgregor's views on the Russo-Ukrainian War. As many of you know, Dougie has been wrong about absolutely everything, starting from the first days of the war.

Per Macgregor, Ukrainians have lost over 300 000 men already.

7/22

He's focused on another new narrative spread by the conspiratorial wannabe-president RFK Jr., who claimed that there was an agreement between Russia and Ukraine made in Apr 2022, which caused Russia to withdraw its troops from around Kyiv.

Now that's some strong Copium!

8/22

Dickie is all about them "Ukrainian Nazis". He likes to talk about "institutionalized nazi structures", claiming that it's a "continuation from ww2 period", and that these "evil Nazis" were sent to administrate Eastern Ukraine after the 2014 "coup". Man he sounds Russian!

9/22

As the number 88 in Dicky's nickname doesn't refer to his birth year, I wonder what it could be reference to? Only thing that comes to my mind is a certain failed Austrian painter that later became a German politician. He's also referred to number 1488 in one of his tweets.
10/22

He condemned the Prigozhin/Wagner mutiny very strongly, declaring that "those who did it will have to pay for their deeds." If he was actually from Russia, he'd known there are absolutely no consequences for the mutineers and/or their leaders.

11/22

He's also knowingly or unknowingly shared videos and photos out of context & has been struck with Community Notes on a few occasions. As is tradition,he hasn't made any corrections, but I mean, the man is lying about his whereabouts so I'm not sure if all that even matters.
12/22

Richard has attacked NAFO on many occasions. As usual, his attacks focus on appearances only, even though Dicky himself isn't built like a Greek statue.

But that's just how it often goes with pro-Russian pundits: when you're out of arguments, go for the irrelevant stuff.

13/22

Dick has another Twitter account, @Mad_in_Germany. The content is pretty much the same, but there are two big differences: he writes in German and absolutely no one cares about his tweets. Lesson learned again: for maximum engagement, it's better to LARP as a Russian.

14/22

Dickie has also launched a some sort of "free speach [sic] social media" site, where "all political views are respected." He's posting the same content on his Meld content, but as expected, his site is mostly a ghost town with just a few active users.

15/22

Dick also often posts with his German, non-LARP accounts about the right-wing, populist political party Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD for short. They're best-known for their close ties to the Kremlin, and they've been strongly against the sanctions. In Sep 2022,five..
16/22

...AfD politicians traveled to Moscow and planned a trip to the Russian-controlled areas in Donbas, Ukraine. One of their MEPs, @KrahMax has often appeared as a commentator on RT and also on CCP-controlled People's Daily.

17/22

Another member of AfD, Markus Frohnmaier, was described to be under Kremlin's "absolute control" in a 2017 strategy paper. He's also named as a recipient of financial benefits in OCCRP investigation of Russia's International Agency for Current Policy.

18/22

Imagine being a +60-year-old tanker bridge attendant from West Germany, who pretends to be a Russian political commentator. At the same you're living in a NATO country, and your taxes are used to support it. Dickie, are you sure you don't want to move to Russia for real?

19/22

Richard is solid reinforcement to the rather strong pro-Russian fifth column in Germany, and his strength is probably in his double-role - he's actively spreading disinformation and propaganda on two languages and under many accounts.



20/22 https://t.co/AxeJku9tc3

The thing that I appreciate about Richard is that he doesn't block people easily.

Now, Mr. @trollstoy88, maybe you can answer my question: Why lie? Why pretend to be something you're not? Is it a (sexual) fantasy, or some kind of personality disorder? Just curious.

21/22

Oh, and one more question: What is your new website with the logo Z about and does it comply with the German law?

Again, just curious.

22/22

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CORRECTION TO 19/22:

"Imagine being a +60-year-old tanker bridge attendant"

should say:

"Imagine being a +50-year-old tanker bridge attendant"