In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce an American, pro-Russian politician and a conspiracy theorist, Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG). She's also a US representative for Georgia and member of the Republican Party, and is best known for her love of guns and QAnon.
1/15
She started her political career after the 2016 Republican Party primaries, and in 2017 she was writing dozens of articles for fake news blogs such as the American Truth Seekers and Law Enforcement Today. In 2018 she was also "moderating" a FB page for the Family America...
2/15
... Project, an organization known for posting death threats against Democrats, racist post against the Obama's and generally supporting the wackiest conspiracy theories out there.
Greene knows her audience and campaigns accordingly: ...
3/15
... she's shared a meme of herself holding a AR-15 rifle next to collage of various Democratic politicians. Nancy Pelosi called this a "threat of violence" and the post was removed, after which Marjorie said that she was being the victim of "cancel culture".
4/15
Later on she went and called Pelosi a "hypocrite" & a "bitch". She's also expressed support for execution of FBI agents & some leading Democrats, including Pelosi, Obama and H. Clinton. When asked about their hangings, she said "Stage is being set. [...] We must be patient."
5/15
In the eyes of Trump, Andy Biggs, Matt Gaetz, Charlie Kirk, and L. Lin Wood, she was apparently the perfect candidate to represent the US demographic who loved guns, conspiracy theories (and possibly opiates, too).
Marjorie is also a stout supporter of Russia and Putin.
6/15
In Mar, 2022, she said that "Ukraine just kept poking the bear, poking the bear which is Russia, and Russia invaded" and that "There is no win for Ukraine here". She concluded that "Russia is being very successful in their invasion."
7/15
She also declared that "NATO has been supplying the neo-Nazis in Ukraine with powerful weapons and extensive training" and concluded her message with the hashtag #NATONazis. She has also voted against every sanctions proposal against Russia and aid package for Ukraine.
8/15
Greene identifies as a "Christian nationalist", which may also explain the close relation with the Russians: Putin has been described as a global leader of the Christian nationalist movement.
9/15
Marjorie has supported many, many conspiracy theories in the past, including white genocide, Great Replacement, Sandy Hook school shooting, Camp Fire space solar generators and of course QAnon.
10/15
Greene hasn't only supported existing conspiracy theories, she's also made her own - she has suggested, that to make Republicans go along with gun control, 4th of July Highland Park mass shooting was organized to happen during "MAGA month".
11/15
Marjorie has suggested that there are links between Hillary Clinton, pedophilia and human sacrifice, and she has stated that the Pizzagate is real. She discovered QAnon through Liz Crokin, and said that many of Q's prophecies "have really proven to be true".
12/15
In her famous quote, she said that "There's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles out, and I think we have the president [referring to Donald Trump] to do it."
She later distanced herself from the QAnon movement.
13/15
Marjorie was condemned and criticized by several representatives, which eventually made her to delete some of her old social media posts. She was also removed from House Committee assignments. Greene might also be the first person to be condemned by the CrossFit community.
14/15
She's also referred the US Capitol police as "gazpacho police", confusing the delicious Spanish soup gazpacho with the secret police of the Nazi Germany, Gestapo.
Greene's personal Twitter account was reinstated by Musk in Nov, 2022.
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.
1/22
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,…
2/22
…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.
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.
1/10
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.
2/10
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.
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.
1/16
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.
2/16
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.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll discuss the Ukrainian SBU’s “Spiderweb” operation and the main disinformation narrative vatniks have been spreading during the afterfall. While domestic Russian media stays silent, the vatniks and Russian milbloggers have been extremely loud.
1/20
This operation was probably the most impactful strike since the drowning of the Moskva, massively reducing Russia’s capability to bomb Ukrainian cities (or anyone else’s). It involved smuggling 117 FPV drones hidden in trucks into Russia. Once near airbases,…
2/20
…the roofs opened remotely, launching drones in synchronized waves to strike targets up to 4,000 km away. The mission took 18 months to plan. The unsuspecting Russian truck drivers who transported them had no idea they were delivering weapons deep behind their own lines.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian movie director, propagandist, and former priest: Ivan Okhlobystin. He’s best known for his strong support for the war on Ukraine and for his radical views, which are often used as a testbed for the domestic Russian audience.
1/20
Ivan was born in 1966 from a short-lived marriage between a 62-year-old chief physician and a 19-year-old engineering student. She later remarried, and the family moved from Kaluga province to Moscow. Ivan kept the surname Okhlobystin from his biological father.
2/20
After moving to Moscow, Ivan began studying at VGIK film school. He soon became a playwright for theatre productions and also wrote for Stolitsa magazine, which he later left because, as he put it, “it had become a brothel.”
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Ukrainian-born former State Duma deputy, Vladimir Medinsky. He is best known as one of the ideologues of the “Russkiy Mir”, for his close ties to Vladimir Putin, and for leading the “peace talks” in Turkey in 2022 and 2025.
1/20
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Medinsky interned as a correspondent on the international desk of the TASS news agency, learning the ways of propaganda at an early age. Some time later, he earned two PhDs – one in political science and the other in history.
2/20
As is tradition in Russia, Medinsky’s academic work was largely pseudo-scientific and plagiarized. Dissernet found that 87 of 120 pages in his dissertation were copied from his supervisor’s thesis. His second dissertation was also heavily plagiarized.