In today's #vatnik soup I'll be talking about books, documentaries, podcasts, etc. that I have found to be useful in understanding disinfo, Russian info ops, culture, etc. It's by no means a comprehensive list, but I think it's a good start! Also,list YOUR favorites below 👇🏻1/13
Books/audiobooks
Catherine Belton (@CatherineBelton): Putin's People - If I could recommend only one book, it'd be this one. It's a fantastically written book about the rise of Putin and Putinism and a masterwork of investigative journalism.
2/13
Keir Giles (@KeirGiles): Russia's War on Everybody - A comprehensive look on different aspects of Russian politics, bringing together various themes and stories from the military, politics, espionage, cyber operations, etc. Good book for getting a general overview on Russia.
3/13
Jessikka Aro (@JessikkaAro): Putin's Trolls - A great overview on Russia's information operations against the West. The focus is more on IRA, Prigozhin, and Aro's personal experiences while working as a journalist for Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE.
4/13
Mikhail Zygar (@zygaro): All the Kremlin's Men - A great history about Putin and his inner circle. The book focuses on telling the events from a neutral point of view rather than moralizing. Lots of names and dates, so can be hard to follow at times.
5/13
The publishing of this book was a huge event in Ukraine, as it revealed the Russian plans to annex Crimea in Dec, 2013. It was published in English in 2016.
6/13
Luke Harding (@lukeharding1968): Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem, and Russia's Remaking of the West - A great book on Russian espionage and corruption and their KGB-style murders around the world.
7/13
Documentaries
Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (Evgeny Afineevsky, @evgeny_director) - This documentary about the Maidan uprising gives you a good overview on the origins of the Russo-Ukrainian War. You can watch it on Youtube:
8/13
Adam Curtis: Curtis is probably my biggest source of inspiration, and his documentaries on geopolitics are my long-time favorites. I'd suggest watching at least The Century of the Self, The Power of Nightmares, HyperNormalisation & his latest, Can't Get You Out of My Head.
9/13
Podcasts
BBC's Ukrainecast - I listened to this podcast daily for the first six months or so of the war. Lots of Ukrainian voices, great expert guests and fantastic insights on different aspects of the war. A show with very high production value.
10/13
Joe Rogan Experience: Controversial, but Rogan often invites guests who know a lot about the war. I'd suggest you to listen Peter Zeihan's interview with wild analysis on the war in Ukraine. Most people dislike JRE, I've been a fan for over a decade.
11/13
Research
Conley et al.: The Kremlin Playbook - Great summary of Russia's "economic war" that they waged against the West since around '07.
Renee DiResta: DiResta has done extensive research on Russia's & IRA's info operations in the West. Just read all of her recent papers.12/13
Bloggers/tweeters
I'll just list these as you can find their content neatly on Twitter.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’m going to talk about… Vatnik Soup! As some of you know, we also have a website where you can find every soup ever published. The site also has other useful resources, making it the most comprehensive resource on Russian disinformation & vatniks.
1/15
Unfortunately, Elon has flagged the website as malware, as he might not be very happy about the soups I wrote about him - so far, they have garnered over 60 million views on X/Twitter.
The “freedom of speech” spokesperson doesn’t seem too keen on free speech, after all.
2/15
The heart & soul of the website is of course the soups page. There you can find all 360+ soups, which can be sorted chronologically, by popularity, etc. You can also search for soups by title or even in the soup text:
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.
1/20
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.
2/20
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:
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.
1/24
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.
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:
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.
1/21
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.
2/21
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.
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.