Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Dec 22, 2022 18 tweets 8 min read Read on X
In today's #vatnik soup I'll discuss Russkiy mir, the "Russian World". It's a concept that comprises of core culture of Russia, including its traditions & interactions with other cultures. This series is an attempt to explain motivations behind Russia's actions & motivations.1/17 Image
This soup is quite long and extensive, so grab a coffee or tea and enjoy!

First of all, there isn't only one Russia - throughout its history, Russia has been affected and shaped by several cultures and leaderships.

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The core of the Russian society is the "Slavic Russia". It's the "Russian soul" & it's where the language and the Russian entity was born. In Slavic Russia the idea of all Slavic people being one was born, & the role of Russia was of course to keep the Slavic world together.
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The 2nd Russia was the "Byzantine Russia". After the 1453 fall of Constantinople , the "Second Rome", its traditions and culture moved to Moscow, the "Third and Eternal Rome", also making it a religious center.

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This brought three big changes to Russian culture: Religion, conservatism & the idea that authority should not be challenged. By combining religion & leadership, this period concluded that authority's power was provided by God, it's infallible and should not be challenged.

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The 3rd Russia was the "Mongolian Russia". In the 13th century, Russia (then Kievan Rus') was invaded by the Mongols. It was a cruel period, and many modern Russian words related to torture and corruption come from this era and from the Mongolian language.

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The Mongolian leadership was authoritative & based on dictatorship.The only way to survive & thrive during the Mongolian rule was to lie, deceit & crush your enemies. After this era, Mongolians blend into Russian population and their characteristics can still be seen today.
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The 4th Russia was the "Chaotic Russia", or smuta. This period lasted from 1598 to 1613. Leadership of Russia was contested, famine killed third of the population and the country was invaded by Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. The whole nation was in chaos.

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This ended with Michael Romanov coming to power and ruling over with an iron fist. From this time period, people concluded that dictatorship is better than
chaos. Romanovs ruled Russia until the February Revolution of 1917.

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The 5th Russia was the "European Russia".There was an internal struggle whether Russia should be part of West or not (Západniks vs Slavophiles).During this time Russia was consciously mystified by writers,poets & artists to create a "wall of fog" between Russia and the West.10/17 Image
The 6th Russia is the "Superpower Russia". From this era comes the authoritarianism, expansionism, power politics, spheres of interest and buffer states. From the WW2 they learned that it's always better to wage war on someone else's turf rather than on their own.

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The modern Russia should be seen as a blend of all these six remnants and periods. For centuries, Russia has been authoritarian and often led by a dictator. This dictator, the Tsar is infallible and his power comes from the God Almighty, and their main job is to keep the ...12/17
... Slavic nations together. Mongolian rule reinforced the idea of corruption and deception as the main tools of politics and power, and smuta reinforced the idea that centralized, authoritarian power is better than chaos.

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These periods cemented a political hierarchy:Russians believe firmly in "just & infallible Tsar". The next level of leadership consists of "Princes", who after a while become infallible, too. One of the Princes eventually becomes the next Tsar. After this becomes the Boyars.14/17 Image
Boyars are the ones who implement the Tsar's decisions, sometimes incorrectly.

Putin is of course the Tsar, some examples of Princes could be Nikolai Patrushev and Yevgeny Zinichev. Not the biggest names in media, eh? Well, that's the idea -

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- Princes should be kept in dark so that their reputation stays clean. Some Boyar examples could be Sergei Shoigu and Yevgeny Prigozhin.

In the second part, I'll talk more about Russian imperalism and the idea of Russian nationality, "Narodnost".

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"This series is an attempt to explain motivations behind Russia's actions & motivations"

And this is why you should ALWAYS double-proofread your tweets.

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More from @P_Kallioniemi

Jul 1
In today’s Wumao Soup, I’ll introduce how and where the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) online propaganda and influence operations work. Due to China’s massive population and advances in AI, CCP-aligned online content has become increasingly visible.

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Like Russia’s troll farms, China has its own troll army: the “50 Cent Party” or “Wumao” refers to state-linked online commentators who are reportedly paid ¥0.50 per post to steer discussions away from criticism and amplify CCP narratives on social media.

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Back in 2017, a research paper estimated that the Wumao produced almost 500 million fabricated comments annually to distract readers and shift topics. In that sense, Wumao operates very similarly to the Russian “Firehose of Falsehood” model:

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Read 21 tweets
Jun 26
In today’s Vatnik Soup and the “Degenerate Russia” series, I’ll show you the brutal reality of Russian war crimes, in particular the horrific tortures and sexual abuses of children, women and men.

Buckle up, this one is not for the faint-hearted.

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For over a decade now and as part of their “firehose of falsehood” propaganda strategy, Russia has been spreading false narratives targeted at right-wing/conservative audiences, portraying russia as a bastion of Christian, traditional,family values.

2/24

In the previous “degenerate Russia” series we discussed Russia’s insanely high divorce rates, rampant domestic violence, high murder rates, thriving neo-Nazi culture, corruption of the Orthodox Church, and their massive demographic problem:

3/24

Read 26 tweets
Jun 24
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explore how Russia is working with Iran, and how the recent Israel–US strikes on Iran could affect the war in Ukraine. Iran has been one of Russia’s key allies in their genocidal war, but in reality the partnership is deeply one-sided.

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Historically, Russia/USSR has been involved in numerous wars in the Middle East, invading Afghanistan for nearly a decade and desperately trying to keep Syria’s authoritarian leader, al-Assad, in power before his eventual downfall.

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While initially supportive of Israel, the Soviet Union quickly pivoted to backing its enemies, fueling antisemitism, terrorism, and chaos in an already tense region. At times, this meant near-open war, like when Soviet Air Force MiG-21s were shot down by Israel over Egypt.

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Read 22 tweets
Jun 20
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll re-introduce a Latvian politician and former MEP, Tatjana Ždanoka. She’s best-known for her history in the Communist Party of Latvia, for her pro-Russian politics in the country, and her connections to Russian intelligence.

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Based on Ždanoka’s speeches and social media posts, she has a deep hatred towards the people of Latvia. The reason for this can only be speculated, but part of it could be due to her paternal family being killed by the Latvian Auxiliary Police,…

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…a paramilitary force supported by the Nazis, during the early 1940s. Ždanoka became politically active in the late 80s. She was one of the leaders of Interfront, a political party that supported Latvia remaining part of the USSR.

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Read 23 tweets
Jun 16
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce the main themes of Russian disinformation on TikTok. Each day, there are thousands of new videos promoting pro-Kremlin narratives and propaganda.

It’s worth noting that Russians can only access European TikTok via VPN.

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There is currently a massive TikTok campaign aimed at promoting a positive image of Russia. The videos typically feature relatively attractive young women and focus on themes of nationalism and cultural heritage.

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Ironically, many of these videos from Moscow or St. Petersburg are deceptively edited to portray Ukraine in a false light — claiming there is no war and that international aid is being funneled to corrupt elites.

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Read 11 tweets
Jun 8
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about Finland and how pro-Kremlin propagandists have become more active in the Finnish political space since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For the first time since 2022, they’ve gained some political power in Finland.

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Russia’s political strategy in countries with Russian-speaking minorities (such as Finland and the Baltics) is typically quite similar: it seeks to rally these minorities around issues like language and minority rights, and then frames the situation as oppression.

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At the same time, Russian speakers are extremely wary and skeptical of local media, and instead tend to follow Russian domestic outlets like Russia-1 and NTV, thereby reinforcing an almost impenetrable information bubble.

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Read 17 tweets

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