In this thread I'll be discussing 🇷🇺 genocide in Ukraine. I'll focus on the child abductions & will be providing evidence that 🇷🇺 has planned this for a long time and that their intent has been announced in the state-owned media at least since the beginning of April, 2022.
1/10
On April 3rd 2022, 🇷🇺 state-owned news agency RIA Novosti published an op-ed by Timofey Sergeytsev. Sergeytsev once was a consultant to pro-🇷🇺 Viktor Yanukovych and Euractiv described him as "one of the ideologists of modern Russian fascism". 2/10
In his article,Timofey called for the full destruction of Ukraine as a state and also its national identity.This, according to Timofey, should be done to accomplish Ukraine's "denazification". The article caused outrage & it has been condemned as evidence of genocidal intent.3/10
The article has been translated to English by Mariaa Kravchenko and you can read it here: medium.com/@kravchenko_mm…
I have also translated this op-ed to Finnish: medium.com/@pekka.kallion…
By the way, it was published on the same day as dozens of bodies were found in Bucha.
4/10
Russia's war crimes are too numerous to list here, so I will focus on the kidnapping and forced transfers of children from Ukraine into Russia. Putin's troops started the kidnappings pretty much right after the invasion began.
5/10
Already on 22nd of March, 2022, Ukraine and US claimed that over 2300 children had been abducted from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. businessinsider.com/us-embassy-acc…
6/10
International law and the 1948 Genocide Convention state that "forcibly transferring children of the group to another group" constitutes a genocide. By May 26th, more than 238 000 Ukrainian children were allegedly deported to Russian territories.
7/10
On May 30th, 2022, Putin signed a decree that made it easier to give Russian citizenship to Ukrainian orphans (or those w/o parental care). One of the organizers for these abductions is Maria Lvova-Belova, who was appointed as "the federal Commissioner for Children's Rights".8/10
UN has stated that "credible" reports have been presented that Russian forces had sent (and probably still do) Ukrainian children to Russia for adoption in a forced deportation programme. aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/8/…
9/10
For some reason, blogs such as @TheGrayzoneNews have not reported about these child abductions, and political commentators such as Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) have downplayed them.
These people all have something in common: they consider RT being an "independent media".
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In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the agenda-setting and flood of disinformation that spread on X and other platforms right after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. It’s far from the first or last time a tragedy has been weaponized for political purposes.
1/18
Every major political event, especially those involving violence, attracts massive attention. In the immediate aftermath, reliable information is scarce, making it highly vulnerable to both coordinated and improvised disinformation campaigns.
2/18
As I’ve mentioned in my previous soups and lectures, in disinformation campaigns, being first with a narrative is crucial, as people often remember the first version best — psychology studies show it sets the mental schema, and later updates rarely overwrite it.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce American social media personality David Freeman, AKA Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman). He’s best known for spreading political disinformation on X and shamelessly sucking up to Trump, Putin, and other authoritarian leaders.
1/22
David is a textbook example of someone profiting from MAGA grievance politics. He uses extreme, provocative language to farm engagement on X and never hesitates to flatter anyone who might give him more exposure — or money.
2/22
But David wasn’t always like this. At some point, in his mid-40s, he even tried a real job: he trained to become a cop. He spent three years with the Metro Transit PD, but after that he either got fired or quit, and never looked back.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian-Estonian businessman, Oleg Ossinovski. He is best-known for his deep ties to Russian rail and energy networks, shady cross-border dealings, and for channeling his wealth into Estonian politics.
1/14
Oleg made his fortune via Spacecom Trans & Skinest Rail, both deeply tied to Russia’s rail system. Most of this is through Globaltrans Investments PLC, a Cyprus-based firm with 62% held via Spacecom and tens of millions in yearly profits.
2/14
Ossinovski’s Russian-linked ventures made him Estonia’s richest man in 2014, with an estimated fortune of ~€300M. His business empire stretched across railways, oil via Alexela shares, and Russian bitumen imports from Help-Oil, a supplier to the Defense Ministry.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Swiss/French writer, Alain Bonnet, aka Alain Soral (@officielsoral). He’s best known for his rabid antisemitism and for his pathetic support for all the worst authoritarian regimes from Russia to North Korea.
1/22
Alain’s childhood was problematic, as his father has been characterized as a “narcissistic pervert” who beat his children and did jail time for fraud. Alain himself has said he was “programmed to be a monster.” Born Alain Bonnet, he took the stage name of his sister,…
2/22
… actress Agnès Soral. She wasn’t too happy about this, commenting “How would you like to be called Agnès Hitler?”. Like many grifters, he became a pick-up/seduction artist writer, à la late Gonzalo Lira, writing books and even making a B-movie, “Confessions d’un dragueur”.
3/22
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explain the Alaska Fiasco and how it marks the peak of Trump’s two-year betrayal of Ukraine. What was sold as “peace talks” turned into a spectacle of weakness, humiliation, empty promises, and photo-ops that handed Putin exactly what he wanted.
1/24
Let’s start with the obvious: Trump desperately wants the gold medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, mainly because Obama got one. That’s why he’s now LARPing as a “peace maker” in every conflict: Israel-Gaza, Azerbaijan-Armenia, India-Pakistan, and of course Ukraine-Russia.
2/24
Another theory is that Putin holds kompromat — compromising material such as videos or documents — that would put Trump in an extremely bad light. Some have suggested it could be tied to the Epstein files or Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about engagement farming: a cynical social media tactic to rack up likes, shares, and comments. From rage farming to AI-powered outrage factories, engagement farming is reshaping online discourse and turning division into profit.
1/23
Engagement farming is a social media tactic aimed at getting maximum likes, shares, and comments, with truth being optional. It thrives on provocative texts, images, or videos designed to spark strong reactions, boost reach, and turn online outrage into clicks and cash.
2/23
One subset of engagement farming is rage farming: a tactic built to provoke strong negative emotions through outrageous or inflammatory claims. By triggering anger or moral outrage, these posts often generate 100s or even 1,000s of heated comments, amplifying their reach.