Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Nov 11, 2022 9 tweets 4 min read Read on X
In today's #vatnik soup I'll continue discussing Prigozhin,and focus on his mercenary group Wagner. It's a paramilitary organization that deals with Putin's "dirty problems". Private military contractors are forbidden by law in 🇷🇺,and the group operates mostly beyond the law. 1/9 Image
Wagner doesn't have any central ideology, but it has ties to neo-nazi movements in Russia. (Ex-)Wagner leader Dmitry Utkin even has nazi symbols tattooed on his body and neo-nazi groups such as the Rusich work under Wagner. (see my previous report: ). 2/9 Image
Wagner has been involved in the 🇷🇺-🇺🇦 conflict since 2014 when it aided separatist forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk areas. The group has also been involved in other conflicts around the world, including Syria, Libya and Mali. 3/9 Image
Wagner has a tendency to bring war crimes such as rapes, torturing and robberies where ever they go: Raping women in Mali, (theafricareport.com/239790/mali-in…) and killing civilians in Ukraine (theguardian.com/world/2022/may…) are just for examples of this kind of activity. 4/9
Before the war in 🇺🇦, Wagner mostly employed retired servicemen aged between 35 to 55. This all changed after Russia started getting their ass kicked in Ukraine, and now they are going through Russian prisons, looking for anyone who's interested in joining the meat grinder. 5/9
Allegedly cannibals and serial killers have joined the fold, and many of these prisoners also have serious infectious diseases, including hepathisis and HIV. These "soldiers" are marked with approriate bracelets.
theins.ru/en/news/255084
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Recruitment of serious criminals will no doubt lead to increase of Russian war crimes in Ukraine. By Russian standards, the group pays really well - monthly salary is estimated to be something between 670 and 2100 USD. 7/9
The company shares bases with 🇷🇺 military and they train its personnel in 🇷🇺 MoD facility masked as a "children's vacation camp": reuters.com/article/us-mid…

🇺🇦's Security Service (SBU) Vasyl Hrytsak said that, in their opinion, Wagner was in essence "a private army of Putin". 8/9
Prizoghin has sued Bellingcat, Meduza and EoM for reporting his links to Wagner. Finally, in Sept 2022, he finally admitted to finding the group: theguardian.com/world/2022/sep…
Prigozhin was filmed during a recruit process in 🇷🇺 prison on 14th of Sept, 2022:
9/9

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More from @P_Kallioniemi

Aug 18
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.

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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.

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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.

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Read 25 tweets
Aug 11
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 Photo by JULIE OLIVER /Postmedia
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.

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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.

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Read 24 tweets
Aug 6
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the autocratic concept of “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars”: the idea that the leader is wise and just, but constantly sabotaged by corrupt advisors. This narrative shields the ruler from blame, and it’s used by both Putin and Trump today.

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The phrase “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars” (Царь хороший, бояре плохие), also known as Naïve Monarchism, refers to a long-standing idea in Russian political culture: the ruler is good and benevolent, but his advisors are corrupt, incompetent and responsible for all failures.

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From this perception, any positive action taken by the government is viewed as being an accomplishment of the benevolent leader, whereas any negative one is viewed as being caused by lower-level bureaucrats or “boyars”, without the approval of the leader.

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Read 21 tweets
Jul 28
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian politician and First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia, Sergey Kiriyenko. He’s best known for running both domestic and foreign disinformation and propaganda operations for the Kremlin.

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On paper, and in photos, Kiriyenko is just as boring as most of the Kremlin’s “political technologists”: between 2005-2016 he headed the Rosatom nuclear energy company, but later played a leading role in the governance of Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine.

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What is a political technologist? In Russia, they’re spin doctors & propaganda architects who shape opinion, control narratives, and manage elections — often by faking opposition, staging events, and spreading disinfo to maintain Putin’s power and the illusion of democracy.

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Read 21 tweets
Jul 27
Let me show you how a Pakistani (or Indian, they're usually the same) AI slop farm/scam operates. The account @designbonsay is a prime example: a relatively attractive, AI-generated profile picture and a ChatGPT-style profile description are the first red flags.

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The profile's posts are just generic engagement farming, usually using AI-generated photos of celebrities or relatively attractive women.

These posts are often emotionally loaded and ask the user to interact with them ("like and share if you agree!").

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Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.

Country code for the phone number is in Pakistan.

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Read 5 tweets
Jul 15
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American lawyer and politician, Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee). He’s best-known for opposing the aid to Ukraine, undermining NATO by calling the US to withdraw from the alliance, and for fighting with a bunch of braindead dogs online.

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Like many of the most vile vatniks out there, “Based Mike” is a lawyer by profession. He hails from the holy land of Mormons, Utah, where he faces little political competition, allowing him to make the most outrageous claims online without risking his Senate seat.

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Before becoming a senator, Mike fought to let a nuclear waste company dump Italian radioactive waste in Utah, arguing it was fine if they just diluted it. The state said no, the public revolted, and the courts told poor Mikey to sit down.

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Read 23 tweets

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