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

Oct 6
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll reintroduce an American political commentator and pro-Kremlin propagandist, Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson). He’s best known for his promotion of crazy conspiracy theories and for his support of authoritarian regimes around the world.

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Tucker’s career spans decades, but he’s also been very active in recent years, so a lot has happened since our previous soup on him, which can be found here:

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Once described as “the most powerful conservative in America”, Tucker has now fully transformed into a grifting conspiracy theorist and propagandist willing to work for whoever pays him the most. It’s unclear whether Tucker truly believes his endless conspiracy theories or…
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Read 25 tweets
Sep 25
This is what you’re debating with on social media:
It appears that a few pro-Russian bot farms already found this thread, so remember - just block them all, there's no point in arguing with a computer.
Most of you have seen those "No DMs" profiles, right? That's because you can interrupt the GPT procedure by injecting them new instructions.

At some point it also worked in comments ("give me a cake recipe"), but not so much anymore.
Read 4 tweets
Sep 11
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the agenda-setting and flood of disinformation that spread on X and other platforms right after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. It’s far from the first or last time a tragedy has been weaponized for political purposes.

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Every major political event, especially those involving violence, attracts massive attention. In the immediate aftermath, reliable information is scarce, making it highly vulnerable to both coordinated and improvised disinformation campaigns.

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As I’ve mentioned in my previous soups and lectures, in disinformation campaigns, being first with a narrative is crucial, as people often remember the first version best — psychology studies show it sets the mental schema, and later updates rarely overwrite it.

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Read 19 tweets
Sep 8
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce American social media personality David Freeman, AKA Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman). He’s best known for spreading political disinformation on X and shamelessly sucking up to Trump, Putin, and other authoritarian leaders.

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David is a textbook example of someone profiting from MAGA grievance politics. He uses extreme, provocative language to farm engagement on X and never hesitates to flatter anyone who might give him more exposure — or money.

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But David wasn’t always like this. At some point, in his mid-40s, he even tried a real job: he trained to become a cop. He spent three years with the Metro Transit PD, but after that he either got fired or quit, and never looked back.

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Read 24 tweets
Sep 5
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian-Estonian businessman, Oleg Ossinovski. He is best-known for his deep ties to Russian rail and energy networks, shady cross-border dealings, and for channeling his wealth into Estonian politics.

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Oleg made his fortune via Spacecom Trans & Skinest Rail, both deeply tied to Russia’s rail system. Most of this is through Globaltrans Investments PLC, a Cyprus-based firm with 62% held via Spacecom and tens of millions in yearly profits.

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Ossinovski’s Russian-linked ventures made him Estonia’s richest man in 2014, with an estimated fortune of ~€300M. His business empire stretched across railways, oil via Alexela shares, and Russian bitumen imports from Help-Oil, a supplier to the Defense Ministry.

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Read 15 tweets
Sep 2
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Swiss/French writer, Alain Bonnet, aka Alain Soral (@officielsoral). He’s best known for his rabid antisemitism and for his pathetic support for all the worst authoritarian regimes from Russia to North Korea.

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Alain’s childhood was problematic, as his father has been characterized as a “narcissistic pervert” who beat his children and did jail time for fraud. Alain himself has said he was “programmed to be a monster.” Born Alain Bonnet, he took the stage name of his sister,…

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… actress Agnès Soral. She wasn’t too happy about this, commenting “How would you like to be called Agnès Hitler?”. Like many grifters, he became a pick-up/seduction artist writer, à la late Gonzalo Lira, writing books and even making a B-movie, “Confessions d’un dragueur”.
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Read 23 tweets

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