In today's #vatnik soup and in the 2nd edition of "You pronounced this nonsense, not me", I'll introduce some of the outlandish lies and disinformation regarding Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and how he has managed to counter these smear campaigns.
1/13
Since day one of the invasion he's been the #1 target for Russian propaganda - why? Because Russia lost their own man, Viktor Yanukovych, during the Euromaidan uprising. Yanukovych fled Kyiv and is now living in exile in Russia.
2/13
At the beginning of the war, 🇷🇺 assumed that Zelenskyy, a man mostly known for his acting career, would quickly fold and leave Ukraine. Immediately after 🇷🇺's full-scale invasion begun, Kreml started spreading disinfo that Zelenskyy had already fled from Ukraine to Poland.
3/13
Soon after these accusations, Ukrainian leadership, including Zelenskyy, published a video from the streets of Kyiv to fight this propaganda campaign. This video quickly became one of the biggest morale boosters for Ukraine.
4/13
Soon after one of the worst deepfake videos ever produced was published. In this video, "Zelenskyy" called for his soldiers to lay down their arms. Hackers managed to send this video on Ukrainian national TV, too and the news spread quickly on social network VKontakte.
5/13
In July, 2022, hackers hacked into a Ukrainian radio station and sent a message that Zelenskyy was hospitalized and was in intensive care. Again, Zelenskyy published a rebuttal and said that he was well.
6/13
After the Russians realized that none of these approaches wouldn't work, they started the drug addict accusations: a fake video of Zelenskyy having cocaine on his desk surfaced and spread like a wildfire.
7/13
This claim was supported by another edited video of Zelenskyy "praising cocaine" (he was actually talking about coffee & exercise). The outlet that did the original interview has denied these claims, too: pravda.com.ua/news/2019/04/8…
8/13
Fringe pro-Putin bloggers such as Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) are still desperately trying to push this silly narrative from time to time:
Forbes Ukraine has estimated his fortune to be ~20 million USD and name his company Kvartal 95 as his main source of income.11/13
Pandora Papers revealed that Zelenskyy has offshore companies abroad, but so does many others: over 200 Finns were named in these leaks. And of course Putin and Timchenko were also there:
Zelenskyy has been quick and effective at countering any disinformation Russia tries to spread about him.
He does this by effectively using various social media channels, but I'm sure that we will see even more Kreml-related bullshit coming in the following months.
13/13
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In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll introduce a Russian ultra-nationalist propagandist and “philosopher”, Aleksandr Dugin. He’s best-known for his blueprint on Russia’s geopolitical strategy and for his genocidal rhetoric towards Ukrainians.
1/17
In my first Dugin Soup, I covered the man’s 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics — a manual for dismantling the West, breaking up NATO, and building a Russian-led empire. In it, he makes eerie “predictions” that seem to be playing out today.
2/17
Dugin called for destabilizing the US by exacerbating internal divisions. Fast forward to today: culture wars, conspiracy theories, far-right lunatics, and social media algorithms doing half the work for him.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce Russian propagandist Sergei Tsaulin. He’s best-known for spreading pro-Kremlin narratives in Estonia, fleeing to Russia after breaking several laws in Estonia, and almost getting blown up by a bomb in St. Petersburg.
1/17
For years, Tsaulin was known for organizing marches and events glorifying the Soviet Union. Under the excuse of “remembering history,” these events were nothing more than Kremlin propaganda, wrapped in a red flag with a hammer and sickle.
2/17
One of his most infamous events was the “Immortal Regiment” march, held every 9th of May, where people carried portraits of Soviet soldiers. These marches are used by Russia to push the idea that the Baltics owe their existence to the Soviets.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a podcaster and conspiracy theorist, Joe Rogan (@joerogan). He’s best-known for launching the biggest podcast in the world, promoting various conspiracy theories, his support for Donald Trump and his anti-Ukraine rhetoric.
1/22
Joe Rogan started as a stand-up comedian in the 1980s, found fame on NewsRadio, and became a household name with Fear Factor. But his biggest impact came in 2009 when he launched The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), one of the first major podcasts.
2/22
JRE started as casual but deep conversations, often covering countercultural topics like psychedelics, MMA & hunting. Joe’s podcasting style is largely non-confrontational, often allowing his guests to share their views without significant pushback or critical questioning.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce KOOS party leader and Estonian crypto businessman Oleg Ivanov. He’s best known for running shady businesses, spreading Russian false narratives in Estonia, and participating in the pro-Kremlin political party KOOS.
1/18
As a talented youngster, Oleg learned Estonian almost flawlessly, was a promising karate athlete, and landed a job at a law firm at just 20. He caught the eye of Estonian fuel entrepreneur Endel Siff, who quickly took him under his wing.
2/18
Oleg’s father, Vladimir Ivanov, was a longtime politician from the Russian-funded United People’s Party of Estonia. His career at the town hall ended abruptly when he was caught drunk at work. After that, he went into business with his son, Oleg.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about the takeover of social media by illiberal, populist influencers. For the last ten years, social media has been dominated by these voices and it is one of the main reasons for the political rise of people like Trump and Orban.
1/25
“Illiberal populists” like Trump reject democratic norms while claiming to speak for “the people.” They centralize power, attack institutions, and push nationalism over rights. Elections exist, but checks & balances erode. This is democracy in name, autocracy in action.
2/25
The media landscape has changed drastically over the past two decades. The Internet and social media have changed how we interact online & how we consume media,but it has also become our main source of news. In many ways,social media companies have control over information.