In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce the current Deputy Minister of Defense in Russia, Timur Ivanov. Actually, I'll talk more about his wife and a socialite, Svetlana Zakharova, whose 8000 leaked e-mails were carefully inspected by Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.
1/12
Ivanov is an engineer for the war. He's responsible for building military barracks, cadet corps, submarine bases and military airfields, as well as hospitals and kindergartens.
He is also responsible for many rebuilding efforts in Mariupol.
2/12
Svetlana have mostly been living off his husband(s), and all of her personal business ventures have gone bankrupt. She's mostly known for appearing on tabloid covers and being a TV presenter. She loves glamour and lavish life, including 5-star hotels, yachts and shopping.
3/12
On March 17, 2022, rescue workers were searching for survivors from the ruins of the Mariupol theater. At the same time, Svetlana was buying expensive jewellery in Joel Arthur Rosenthal's jewellery store in Paris. The prices at this establishment start from 100 000s of euros.4/12
Later she travels to London to meet her son, but moves quickly to Paris. There she buys 8000 EUR worth of Prada outfits. Her daughter lives there, too, and they spend family time together for a month in Europe. At the same time, Russia is bombing civilian targets in Kyiv.
5/12
Every year the whole family spends the whole August in the Côte d'Azur in a 120 000 EUR / month villa. 90 000 EUR was spent for a yacht rental. For some villas, they paid 2000 EUR a month extra to see the Russian TV channels - just to see Solovyov lie on Russia-1!
6/12
Timur Ivanov has been a strong opponent of NATO, yet the family has no problem in vacationing in NATO countries like France.
They do all this through front organizations and offshore companies, some of them registered to Luxemburg.
7/12
In 2013-2018 they spent at least 1,3 million EUR
on their holidays in Europe. These included 5-star hotels, and luxurious villas and yachts. Nice boost for the local economy!
8/12
They're also good friends with the press secretary of Russia, Dmitry Peskov. Peskov visited one of their parties and even put on a bear suit to entertain the
guests. As it turns out, Peskov's daughter, Yelizaveta also loves the West - she's living in France.
9/12
Svetlana's spendings seem endless, and she also likes to eat well: while Russian soldiers are eating food-like products in the trenches, Mrs Zakharova eats red & black caviar, croissants and fresh berries for breakfast.
10/12
They're circumventing the sanctions in a creative way: they're cars are registered to their drivers, their yachts are ordered for their nannies, and so on. Jewellery and clothes are paid via offshore companies. They also order construction from their own companies.
11/12
In Oct, 2022,Timur Ivanov (but not Svetlana) was put on sanctions list by the EU. What did they do? They filed for a "divorce", just so that she can continue her glamorous life in Europe. On 3 Dec, 2022, she was again shopping in Paris.
Robert Amsterdam is also a registered (and well-paid!) agent of Maduro’s Venezuela, the socialist regime and ally of Russia which Tucker Carlson has recently defended for some reason, shocking many of his right-wing supporters.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we’ll explain the context of the upcoming Budapest Blunder, and how it follows the infamous Alaska Fiasco from two months ago and Trump’s absurd delaying of serious aid to Ukraine and effective sanctions on Russia for the past nine months.
1/20
Two months ago, Trump embarrassed the United States by rolling out the red carpet for war criminal dictator Putin and overall acting like a pathetic servant eager to meet his master. Of course, the Alaska Fiasco didn’t bring peace any closer.
Worse, the main outcome of the humiliation was to delay serious sanctions, which the US Congress, in rare bipartisan unity against Russia, was on the verge of passing. Two weeks by two weeks, Trump Always Chickens Out, postponing any real pressure on Putin for 9 months now.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce American propagandist Alexandra Jost, aka “Sasha” (@sashameetsrus). She’s best known for being paid by the Russian state to spread pro-Kremlin propaganda — and for doing it with a big smile.
1/23
Alexandra, now 26, was born in Hong Kong. Her father is from Texas, and her mother is from Siberia. According to her, she has “dreamed of living in Russia since childhood.” Sasha's mother runs a dance studio in Moscow and her younger brother is avoiding mobilization.
2/23
Since the beginning of her creator career, Sasha has been adamant about one thing: that she’s “never had to be paid” to speak of her “love” for Russia. But, as always with Russia, this turned out to be nothing but vranyo — a Russian “tactical lie.”
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.
1/24
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:
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…
3/24
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.
1/18
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.
2/18
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.