In today's #vatnik soup and 3rd edition of "You pronounced this nonsense, not me", I'll explain why 🇷🇺 is definitely NOT fighting NATO as they say. 1st of all, why are they claiming this without showing any proof? There are two reasons: 1) 🇷🇺 always lies, & 2) they're losing. 1/9
In August, Putin's deputy chief-of-staff, Sergey Kiriyenko declared that "Ukraine’s leadership has sold out its own people to fight on behalf of NATO against Russia." He continued: "We understand very well that we are not fighting against Ukraine in the Ukrainian territory,...2/9
... and we are certainly not against the Ukrainian people. The entire NATO bloc is at war with Russia in Ukraine with Ukrainians' hands"
This "news" was quickly spread by far-right blogs such as Europe Renaissance.
3/9
It was then amplified with fake propaganda videos such as "Putin is stuck: 10 thousand NATO Troops entered the territory of Ukraine!" - a clip that "proved" the presence of NATO and that was seen by over 120 000 people before it was deleted.
4/9
On September 21, 2022, Putin picked this narrative for his own speech, when he suggested that "The Kyiv regime has launched new gangs of foreign mercenaries and nationalists, military units trained to Nato standards and under the de-facto command of Western advisers."
5/9
RIA Novosti joined the claim by stating that "Our intelligence agencies revealed the arrival of regular Nato officers in the Kharkiv region."
All this was said after the humiliating losses at Kharkiv Oblast & further amplified after the drone strike vs. the Black Sea fleet.
6/9
As a "proof" Russia has shown tweets by American soldiers fighting in Ukraine. These people are not currently serving in the US military but have joined the Ukrainian Foreign Legion. Of course, no ACTUAL proof of NATO involvement has been presented.
7/9
To conclude, I would like to share one of my "favorite" stories from the Syrian civil war: the Battle of Khasham. It is the only modern example of combat between US and Russia-affiliated (PMC Wagner) elite troops. This battle showed the huge skill gap between the two.
8/9
It was roughly 4-hour battle in which a group of Wagner's finest were obliterated by a much smaller US force, without taking any losses. Read the story here: coffeeordie.com/wagner-group-s…
IF Russia was fighting NATO in Ukraine by traditional means, the war would already be over.
9/9
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In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the sad (but funny) state of Finnish vatniks. After Russia launched their full-scale invasion against Ukraine, the Finnish pro-Kremlin/conspiracy theorist scene experienced a dramatic devaluation and hasn’t been able to bounce back since.
1/20
I often get asked about the current state of the Finnish vatnik club, and there’s usually not much to report.
It’s not because these people have stopped, but because today their work has only comedic value.
So here’s the latest:
2/20
Master vatnik and traitor Johan Bäckman has relocated to Russia, and he was recently given a Russian citizenship. It’s obvious that Johan was recruited by Russia’s intelligence agencies a long time ago. He’s still producing videos on YouTube on his…
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Romanian politician and conspiracy theorist, Călin Georgescu (@calin_georgescu). He’s best-known for his pro-Kremlin and conspiratorial views, running for president of Romania, and doing it by only campaigning on TikTok.
1/25
Georgescu has a doctorate in pedology (a branch of soil science), and held various positions in Romania’s environment ministry during the 90s.
Between 1999-2012, he was a representative for Romania on the national committee of the United Nations Environment Program.
2/25
He was proposed as Romania’s prime minister in 2011, 2012 and 2016 by Romanian far-right parties, but he rose to international infamy in 2024, when he ran for president of Romania independently and obtained the most votes (22,95%) out of all candidates in the first round.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Canadian journalist and alleged Soviet/Russian spy, David Pugliese (@davidpugliese). He’s best-known for his articles about “Ukrainian Nazis”, and for allegedly being a spy for both the Soviet Union and later Russia.
1/21
Several months ago I was anonymously sent a pile of documents from the mid-80s originating from the KGB archives in Kyiv. These documents outlined a KGB recruitment into “Stuart”, or David Pugliese who “works in foreign mass media” and who is…
2/21
..“studied with the perspective of possible operative use”. Another document described “Stuart’s” contact “Ivan”, who allegedly became his handler.Some have speculated that “Ivan” is Fred Weir, a correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor.He’s lived in Moscow since 1986.
3/21
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American far-right social media personality, Nicholas J. Fuentes (@NickJFuentes). He’s best-known for his white supremacist, misogynistic and antisemitic rhetoric, and for being the poster boy for the so-called incel movement.
1/17
Like so many from the white supremacist movement, Fuentes dropped out of university after his freshman year. He studied introductory international relations, which apparently made him a geopolitics expert. Nick was introduced to the white supremacist movement at an…
2/17
..early age - he took part in the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville,Virginia. In 2017, Fuentes launched his political talk show “America First”. Initially the show was aired on Trump-aligned Right Side Broadcasting Network, but it was dropped after the rally.
3/17
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss foreign malign influence operations during the 2024 US elections. As in 2016 and 2020, these recent elections were also a target of massive disinformation and hacking campaigns originating mostly from Russia and Iran.
1/17
First of all, my opinion is that these influence operations alone didn’t affect the elections so much, that they actually made a difference.
Unlike in 2016, Trump’s win over Harris was clear and these short-term campaigns didn’t really change that much this time.
2/17
Yet, many of these online campaigns attacked both Harris and Walz on various social media platforms. Especially Walz became a big target after his nomination, and many Russian efforts attempted to defame him.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a social media personality and TV presenter, Raisa Blommestijn (@rblommestijn). She’s best-known for her far-right rhetorics, spreading conspiracy theories, and spreading anti-Ukraine and pro-Kremlin narratives on Dutch television.
1/24
Raisa studied philosophy of law at Leiden University. The faculty is best-known for one of its professors, Paul Cliteur. He’s a member of the pro-Kremlin party Forum voor Democratie (FvD), where he is one of the leading figures.Cliteur is also known for supervising the FvD…
2/24
…founder Thierry Baudet’s doctoral thesis, and can be considered a central figure in this Dutch “anti-establishment” movement. While studying at Leiden, Raise also met her best friend forever, Eva Vlaardingerbroek: