Today I'll be introducing one of the most infamous Finnish 🇷🇺 disinfo site on the web: MV-Lehti (AKA MV-Media or UMV-Lehti).During its existence, the site has had three Chief-Editors:Ilja Janitskin, Juha Korhonen (.@Juha_Korh2) and currently Janus Putkonen (.@janus_putkonen).1/10
The latter two have already been introduced in my Finnish #vatnik's series:
I would still like to tell you little about Mr Janitskin, the sole founder of MV-Lehti:
2/10
Ilja started MV-Lehti while living in Spain back in 2014 after a series of failed businesses. Initially it was used as an marketing tool to get 🇫🇮 to come and work in 🇪🇸. The website became quite popular and at some point was amongst the top 10 visited websites in 🇫🇮.
3/10
This crowd was attracted by publishing fake news stories, insulting profile articles and anti-immigration and anti-semitic propaganda (at that time, MV-lehti was the only media that published full names of immigrant criminals). 4/10
MV-Lehti's popularity peak was in 2015, when over 30 000 immigrants flooded into 🇫🇮 from countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. Ilja wrote daily articles about the topic. 5/10
At this time the website didn't contain much 🇷🇺 disinfo as their campaign - ran by Yevgeni Prizoghin - was just getting started. So the site was mostly stories about immigration and curing cancer with baking soda (incidentally, Ilja died of cancer in 2020). 6/10
In 2017, Ilja gave up the position of Chief-Editor in MV and gave (or sold) the position to Juha Korhonen. I have already written a lot about Juha, but I'll say a few things more: Juha likes to take on projects, even though all of them fail. 7/10
Currently he is running the YT alternative Tokentube, and he has also tried to create a FB clone called "AD Yhteisö".During '17-'19 MV posted slander about Finnish journalists,politicians and provided output channel for far-right hinge groups such as Soldiers of Odin and SVL.8/10
In 2019 Putkonen took over the site and changed the name to UMV-Lehti. News are focusing on anti-Ukraine/NATO and pro-🇷🇺 rhetoric with occasional conspiracies and antivax articles. Most of the news are translated from websites such as LifeSiteNews and The Gateway Pundit. 9/10
Even though MV has become only a shadow of its past in popularity - it still has a marginalized audience. In their study, "Information Laundering in the Nordic-Baltic Region", Stratcom stated that MV-Lehti is part of the 🇷🇺 disinformation laundering network. 10/10
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In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the Wagner Group, its founders Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, and the mutiny they started on 23 Jun 2023. The event marked the climax of the Wagner Group–Russian MoD conflict, and finally led to the deaths of Prigozhin and Utkin.
1/22
Wagner has been used in many conflicts around the world, but they came to global prominence during the war in Donbas in 2014-2015. Wagnerites helped the Donbas separatists fight against the Ukrainians during the conflict, which helped Putin to “outsource” the insurrection.
2/22
The group doesn’t have any central ideology, but many of its members and leaders have ties to various neo—Nazi movements in Russia. For example, Wagner leader Dmitry Utkin had several Nazi symbols tattooed on his body. Neo—nazi group Rusich has also fights as part of Wagner.
3/22
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an Amsterdam-based propaganda channel, Bonanza Media (@bonanzamedia2). It’s best-known for producing & spreading online pro-Kremlin propaganda videos while closely coordinating & collaborating with the Russian intelligence agency GRU.
1/19
Russian intelligence has been extremely active in the Netherlands for a long time. For example in 2018, four GRU agents were caught while trying to hack into OPCW,an organization that monitors the use of chemical weapons. In addition, the International Criminal Court (ICC)…
2/19
…and the MH17 investigation have become targets for the Russian intelligence and propaganda operations. These operations are often complemented with “investigative journalism” media outlets, that often echo the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll talk about the recent EU elections and what are their implications for both the Kremlin and Ukraine. Right-wing political parties, some pro-Kremlin, won a lot of seats around Europe, and this result can also change the EU’s stance on Ukraine.
1/19
But before we start, I want to promote a truck fundraiser I'm doing together with the fantastic @ArturRehi and @69thSB.
Our goal is 20 000 USD, and you can contribute to this important fundraiser here:
EU’s support of Ukraine is essential for their survival against genocidal Russia. So far,this support has been delayed mostly by Orban’s Hungary (& to some degree, Fico’s Slovakia). Now, this support will probably be challenged by many new members of the European Parliament.
3/19
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss a specific propaganda/disinformation that the Kremlin likes to use – antisemitism. I also talk about how the Russian society itself has become riddled with antisemitism & how this has led to a decrease in Jewish population in the country.
1/19
Russian antisemitism works on many levels, and their narratives vary depending whether they’re targeting a local audience or people in Europe and the US. For example for the latter, Russia attempts to create a false narrative of Ukraine being an antisemitic “Nazi state”.
2/19
But before diving deeper, let’s look at a survey data of Russians in 2023: Nearly 30 million Russians harbour antisemitic attitudes, and 15% of those surveyed believed that “Jews were responsible for most of the world’s wars.” 38% think that the Jews have...
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Ukrainian media personality and propagandist, Diana Panchenko (@Panchenko_X). She’s best-known for betraying her own country by peddling anti-Zelenskyy and anti-Ukraine propaganda and disinformation for the Kremlin.
1/22
Panchenko was born in 1988 in the Mykolaev Oblast in Ukrainian SSR in 1988. She studied publishing and editing at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and later graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with a degree in law.
2/22
After graduating, Diana worked briefly for the news site . Between 2010 and 2015, Panchenko was a presenter for KyivTV, but she found her true calling as a pro-Kremlin propagandist after she was hired by a national “news channel” called NewsOne.