In today's #vatnik soup I'll be discussing about Finland and how it fights Russian disinformation and propaganda. I'll also introduce some of the methods that Finnish vatniks have applied in order to brainwash the Finnish folk from all levels of society.
1/16
Let's start with journalism: In the Press Freedom Index, Finland has been at the top 5 along with the other Nordic countries for decades now.
According to Christophe Deloire of Reporters without Borders, the biggest threat to press freedom is the so-called...
2/16
... "Fox News Model", in which the media both polarizes and attracts audience share with extreme opinions.
Countries like Russia and China have basically no freedom of press, and pretty much all media is controlled by the state.
3/16
This leaves very little room for foreign information operations, as all public information is checked and validated. One of the first things that Putin did after invading Ukraine was to demolish any kind of free press.
4/16
Free press can also be used against a nation: information operations often focus on establishing fake news sources and disinformation mills for spreading polarizing content. In Finland, the biggest outlet for this kind of "information laundering" is MV-Lehti.
5/16
In it's early days, around 2015, the blog focused on anti-immigration narratives, but eventually started pushing pro-Russian bullshit. The two latest Editor-in-Chiefs, Juha Korhonen and Janus Putkonen are straight up Putinists.
6/16
Finnish vatniks, especially Johan Bäckman, have also established associations that are named very similarly than some official, trusted associations. One example is Toimittajaliitto, translated as The Union of Journalists in Finland.
7/16
Incidentally, the official org is called Journalistiliitto, and the translation in English is exactly the same, making it very easy to mix up these two. The fake association has provided "press passes" to various "independent journalists", like the pro-Russian Panu Huuhtanen.8/16
Pro-Russian actors also try to defame the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE and its journalists. Bäckman was convicted of harassment of YLE journalist Jessikka Aro who's been actively dissiminating the Russian info ops.
9/16
YLE in general plays a big part in fighting disinformation, and they have established activities such as Faktabaari (FactBar) to fight the spread of false information and propaganda.
10/16
There are several other plans on a national level to do the same in the future: for example deepfake videos and AI will be a big challenge in the near future, and YLE has established organization for detecting and fighting them.
11/16
Another important aspect of Finnish battle against disinformation is the education. In Finnish schools, children start learning at very young age about the concept of fake news and mis- and disinformation.
12/16
One example of this is Koulukino, that produces high quality video teaching material about disinformation for Finnish schools. They've created a lot of material to support media education and to fight against disinformation.
13/16
But probably the biggest reason why Russian disinformation simply doesn't work well in Finland is that we were at war with USSR quite recently. The whole conflict started with false flag operation called Mainila shelling, and there were similar incidents throughout the war.
14/16
After the fall of USSR many prominent politicians and businessmen succumbed into the 'Ostpolitik' and trade with Russia. For example, one Finnish ex-PM was involved in the Nord Stream business with Gerhard Schröder, and another one was board member in SberBank.
15/16
One current member of the Parliament was involved in the Russian ice hockey business and did a lot of business with the Rotenberg oligarch family and with Gennadi Timchenko. After the war started, most of them stopped doing business with the Russians.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an Amsterdam-based propaganda channel, Bonanza Media (@bonanzamedia2). It’s best-known for producing & spreading online pro-Kremlin propaganda videos while closely coordinating & collaborating with the Russian intelligence agency GRU.
1/19
Russian intelligence has been extremely active in the Netherlands for a long time. For example in 2018, four GRU agents were caught while trying to hack into OPCW,an organization that monitors the use of chemical weapons. In addition, the International Criminal Court (ICC)…
2/19
…and the MH17 investigation have become targets for the Russian intelligence and propaganda operations. These operations are often complemented with “investigative journalism” media outlets, that often echo the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll talk about the recent EU elections and what are their implications for both the Kremlin and Ukraine. Right-wing political parties, some pro-Kremlin, won a lot of seats around Europe, and this result can also change the EU’s stance on Ukraine.
1/19
But before we start, I want to promote a truck fundraiser I'm doing together with the fantastic @ArturRehi and @69thSB.
Our goal is 20 000 USD, and you can contribute to this important fundraiser here:
EU’s support of Ukraine is essential for their survival against genocidal Russia. So far,this support has been delayed mostly by Orban’s Hungary (& to some degree, Fico’s Slovakia). Now, this support will probably be challenged by many new members of the European Parliament.
3/19
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss a specific propaganda/disinformation that the Kremlin likes to use – antisemitism. I also talk about how the Russian society itself has become riddled with antisemitism & how this has led to a decrease in Jewish population in the country.
1/19
Russian antisemitism works on many levels, and their narratives vary depending whether they’re targeting a local audience or people in Europe and the US. For example for the latter, Russia attempts to create a false narrative of Ukraine being an antisemitic “Nazi state”.
2/19
But before diving deeper, let’s look at a survey data of Russians in 2023: Nearly 30 million Russians harbour antisemitic attitudes, and 15% of those surveyed believed that “Jews were responsible for most of the world’s wars.” 38% think that the Jews have...
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Ukrainian media personality and propagandist, Diana Panchenko (@Panchenko_X). She’s best-known for betraying her own country by peddling anti-Zelenskyy and anti-Ukraine propaganda and disinformation for the Kremlin.
1/22
Panchenko was born in 1988 in the Mykolaev Oblast in Ukrainian SSR in 1988. She studied publishing and editing at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and later graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with a degree in law.
2/22
After graduating, Diana worked briefly for the news site . Between 2010 and 2015, Panchenko was a presenter for KyivTV, but she found her true calling as a pro-Kremlin propagandist after she was hired by a national “news channel” called NewsOne.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Belarusian politician and dictator, Alexander Lukashenko. He’s best-known for giving up his country to Russia, and for cracking up political opposition and dissidents in Belarus, ruling the country with an iron fist.
1/19
Alexander was born in the Byelorussian SSR, living an unhappy childhood with his mother, taunted by his schoolmates due to being fatherless. His father’s identity is not known, but there’s a rumour that his father was a Roma traveler passing through the region.
2/19
Lukashenko joined the Soviet Communist Party in 1979, and a few years later he became the deputy chairman of a collective farm. By 1990, he had risen to the rank of Deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR. He claimed to be an opponent of corruption…