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’ll explain the Alaska Fiasco and how it marks the peak of Trump’s two-year betrayal of Ukraine. What was sold as “peace talks” turned into a spectacle of weakness, humiliation, empty promises, and photo-ops that handed Putin exactly what he wanted.
1/24
Let’s start with the obvious: Trump desperately wants the gold medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, mainly because Obama got one. That’s why he’s now LARPing as a “peace maker” in every conflict: Israel-Gaza, Azerbaijan-Armenia, India-Pakistan, and of course Ukraine-Russia.
2/24
Another theory is that Putin holds kompromat — compromising material such as videos or documents — that would put Trump in an extremely bad light. Some have suggested it could be tied to the Epstein files or Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about engagement farming: a cynical social media tactic to rack up likes, shares, and comments. From rage farming to AI-powered outrage factories, engagement farming is reshaping online discourse and turning division into profit.
1/23
Engagement farming is a social media tactic aimed at getting maximum likes, shares, and comments, with truth being optional. It thrives on provocative texts, images, or videos designed to spark strong reactions, boost reach, and turn online outrage into clicks and cash.
2/23
One subset of engagement farming is rage farming: a tactic built to provoke strong negative emotions through outrageous or inflammatory claims. By triggering anger or moral outrage, these posts often generate 100s or even 1,000s of heated comments, amplifying their reach.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the autocratic concept of “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars”: the idea that the leader is wise and just, but constantly sabotaged by corrupt advisors. This narrative shields the ruler from blame, and it’s used by both Putin and Trump today.
1/20
The phrase “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars” (Царь хороший, бояре плохие), also known as Naïve Monarchism, refers to a long-standing idea in Russian political culture: the ruler is good and benevolent, but his advisors are corrupt, incompetent and responsible for all failures.
2/20
From this perception, any positive action taken by the government is viewed as being an accomplishment of the benevolent leader, whereas any negative one is viewed as being caused by lower-level bureaucrats or “boyars”, without the approval of the leader.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian politician and First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia, Sergey Kiriyenko. He’s best known for running both domestic and foreign disinformation and propaganda operations for the Kremlin.
1/20
On paper, and in photos, Kiriyenko is just as boring as most of the Kremlin’s “political technologists”: between 2005-2016 he headed the Rosatom nuclear energy company, but later played a leading role in the governance of Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine.
2/20
What is a political technologist? In Russia, they’re spin doctors & propaganda architects who shape opinion, control narratives, and manage elections — often by faking opposition, staging events, and spreading disinfo to maintain Putin’s power and the illusion of democracy.
Let me show you how a Pakistani (or Indian, they're usually the same) AI slop farm/scam operates. The account @designbonsay is a prime example: a relatively attractive, AI-generated profile picture and a ChatGPT-style profile description are the first red flags.
1/5
The profile's posts are just generic engagement farming, usually using AI-generated photos of celebrities or relatively attractive women.
These posts are often emotionally loaded and ask the user to interact with them ("like and share if you agree!").
2/5
Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American lawyer and politician, Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee). He’s best-known for opposing the aid to Ukraine, undermining NATO by calling the US to withdraw from the alliance, and for fighting with a bunch of braindead dogs online.
1/21
Like many of the most vile vatniks out there, “Based Mike” is a lawyer by profession. He hails from the holy land of Mormons, Utah, where he faces little political competition, allowing him to make the most outrageous claims online without risking his Senate seat.
2/21
Before becoming a senator, Mike fought to let a nuclear waste company dump Italian radioactive waste in Utah, arguing it was fine if they just diluted it. The state said no, the public revolted, and the courts told poor Mikey to sit down.