In today's #vatnik soup I will introduce 🇷🇺's most "hawkish hawk" and Putin's old friend,Nikolai Patrushev.He belongs to Putin's siloviki faction & he's considered to be one of his closest advisors.He's also seen as one of the likeliest candidates for continuing Putin's work. 1/6
Patrushev directed FSB 1999-2008, and he's been involved in the espionage business since the 70s. He worked with Putin already during this time at Leningrad KGB. UK public inquiry stated that Patrusev (with Putin) was responsible for the 2006 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.2/6
Litvinenko had accused Putin of ordering the assassinations of Berezovsky & Politkovskya, but 2016 UK report suggested that Litvinenko was actually killed for calling Putin a pedophile and stated that at some point FSB had videos of Putin having sex with underaged boys.
3/6
Nikolai's role has also been questioned in the 1999 Russian apartment bombings.Over 300 people died in them & they were used as casus belli in the 2nd Chechen War.Some historians say the bombings were coordinated by 🇷🇺 security services to help bring Putin into the presidency.4/6
Patrushev is also a big fan of conspiracy theories. He believes that the West is trying to reduce world's population drastically and that the US is trying to destroy Russia completely. He's also stated that marriages between humans and animals are legal
in the West.
5/6
Russian politics expert Mark Galeotti has called Nikolai as the "most dangerous man in Russia" because of his paranoia and conspiracy-driven thinking.
Patrushev was sanctioned by EU in 2014 and by US in 2018 and more so in 2022.
6/6
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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.
1/20
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.
2/20
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.
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.
1/20
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.
2/20
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.
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.
1/5
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!").
2/5
Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.
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.
1/21
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.
2/21
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.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American national security policy professional and the current under secretary of defense for policy, Elbridge Colby (@ElbridgeColby). He’s best-known for fighting with cartoon dogs online and for halting military aid to Ukraine.
1/21
Elbridge "Cheese" Colby earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Before entering government, he worked at top think tanks and in the intelligence community, focusing on nuclear policy and strategic planning.
2/21
Cheese quickly became a key voice for a “China First” strategy, arguing the US must prioritize military buildup in Asia over commitments in Europe or the Middle East. He sees (or saw, rather) Taiwan as the core test of US credibility.