Post

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
Click again on or Share Via icon
Click on Copy Link to Tweet
Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
More info at Twitter Help

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

Feb 7, 2023 • 20 tweets • 7 min read • Read on X

Scrolly

In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce a Ukrainian billionaire, philanthropist and the richest man in Ukraine, Rinat Akhmetov. He's the founder, sole proprietor and president of System Capital Management (SCM). Allegedly he also has ties to organized crime.

1/19

Akhmetov was born in Donetsk Oblast and he is an ethnic Volga Tatar. Details about Akhmetov's past are controversial and there are contradictory stories on how he gained his wealth after the fall of USSR.

2/19

Rinat himself has said that he made his fortune by "trading coal and coke" and investing on assets that "no one wanted to buy". Ukrainian author Serhiy Kuzin has claimed that Akhmetov was a "mafia thug" in the 80s.

3/19

Hans van Zon, a Professor of Central and Eastern European Studies, has suggested that Rinat and his brother Igor were involved in criminal activities already in 1986. During the 80s Akhmetov also worked for Akhat Bragin, an alleged powerful criminal boss who allegedly ...

4/19

... made his money in illegal clothing business. Akhmetov was described as an "enforcer" who used mafia methods against Bragin's enemies. During early 90s, Akhmetov acquired property in the Donetsk Oblast - again allegedly - by means of extortion with the assistance of ...

5/19

... Lieutenant-General Volodymyr Malyshev. Serhiy Kuzin has also suggested that Malyshev helped Akhmetov by wiping any documents regarding his criminal past.

After Bragin was killed in 1995 in a bombing at a football stadium, Akhmetov inherited his financial empire.

6/19

In Sep, 1999, an official Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs report identified Akhmetov as a "leader of an organized crime syndicate". The report claimed that Akhmetov's group is involved in money laundering and financial fraud.

7/19

In June 2005, Serhiy Kornich, then head of the Interior Ministry's economic crimes department, said directly that Rinat Akhmetov was "the head of an organized crime group".

In 2006 WikiLeaks published a diplomatic cable from one of Ukraine's most respected policy ...

8/19

... strategist, Volodymyr Horbulin. In this cable Horbulin told the US Ambadassador to Ukraine that the Ukrainian, pro-Russian Party of Regions - best known for their presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych - was largely financed by Akhmetov.

9/19

Horbulin also added that the party partly composed of "pure criminals" and "anti-democratic figures".

Akhmetov also employed and became close friends with Paul Manafort. Manafort's associate Kilimnik allegedly passed polling data about the 2016 US election to Akhmetov.

10/19

In 2005 Akhmetov was also investigated on murder charges and for his alleged role in organized crime in the Donetsk Oblast. To avoid this prosecution, he promptly fled to Monaco. These charges were dropped in 2006, ending Akhmetov's exile.

11/19

If Akhmetov was a criminal mastermind, he's covered his tracks well - Hennadiy Moskal, who in 2005 acted as the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, said in an 2011 interview that concrete evidence was never officially released against him or his company SCM.

12/19

Rinat's SCM group is a multinational corporation and Ukraine's largest financial and industrial group. It employs around 200 000 people, and in 2018 paid 22% of all tax revenues to Ukraine's governmental budget. It's also Ukraine's biggest private wartime taxpayer.

13/19

Self-proclaimed "People's Governor" Pavel Gubarev of the puppet-state DPR said in an 2014 interview that Akhmetov had financed two-thirds of the people of the so-called separatist movement in Donetsk Oblast. Akhmetov denied these accusations, and after this he ...

14/19

... started blaming the "separatists" for the "genocide in Donbas". He also started supplying huge amounts of humanitarian aid to the Donbas region, and in Dec, 2022, Washington Post called Akhmetov the biggest private donor for Ukraine during the war, providing over ...

15/19

... 100 million USD in military and humanitarian aid. In Jan, 2023, the Rinat Ahkmetov Foundation and the Shakhtar football club provided additional 133 million USD for assisting the Ukrainian war effort.

In Nov 2021, president Zelensky has accused Akhmetov of being ...

16/19

... enlisted to help in planning a Russian coup against him. Akhmetov has also been a target of Zelensky's anti-corruption efforts, and Akhmetov has funded Zelensky's opponents. To put it mildly, Akhmetov and Zelenskyy are not friends.

17/19

In Jul, 2022, Rinat involuntarily gave up his media activities due to "de-oligarchisation" legislation.

Regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Akhmetov has been clear on his stance: "Russia is an aggressor and Putin is a war criminal".

18/19

In an interview with Forbes Ukraine, he stated that Ukrainian victory consists of "a complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian soldiers from Ukraine and a full restoration of Ukraine's internationally recognized borders. Including Donbass and Crimea."

19/19

https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1622213798403739649

Support my work (and get some AI art!): buymeacoffee.com/PKallioniemi

Past soups: vatniksoup.com
Related soups:
Paul Manafort:

https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1622213798403739649

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @P_Kallioniemi

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

Jun 28

In today’s Vatnik Soup and our “Degenerate Russia” series, we’ll discuss what kind of lowlifes sink low enough to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, lie on Russia’s behalf, promote Russian BS, and even gather in Moscow or St. Petersburg to help the Kremlin wage its war.

1/21

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1902351629258547584

For over a decade now and as part of their “firehose of falsehood” propaganda strategy, Russia has been spreading false narratives targeting right-wing/conservative audiences, portraying Russia as a bastion of Christian, traditional, family values.

Of course, it’s all BS.

2/21

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1902351629258547584

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/2009956574534742311

Russia is also normalizing relations with the Taliban, doesn’t recognize Hamas or Hezbollah as terrorist groups, and deepens its military partnership with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the regime that legalized pedophilia through child marriage.

3/21

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/2009956574534742311

Read 21 tweets

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

Jun 6

In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce Vincent Bolloré, a French billionaire and media tycoon. He’s best known for building a powerful media empire and for reshaping editorial lines across French media and publishing, pushing them toward far-right and pro-Kremlin positions.

1/25

Born in 1952 in Boulogne-Billancourt to a family of industrialists, Vincent studied law at Paris Nanterre University. He took over the family business and turned it into a sprawling conglomerate spanning logistics, port infrastructure in Africa, advertising, and media.

2/25

Bolloré’s African logistics empire also became the subject of a long-running corruption investigation in France. Legal proceedings against Vincent Bolloré personally are still ongoing, with a trial planned in December, after a judge refused to approve a plea deal.

3/25

Read 25 tweets

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

Jun 4

In today’s Vatnik Soup, we’ll introduce an American conspiracy theorist, podcaster & antisemite, Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO). She’s best known for spreading conspiracy theories, attacking Ukraine, promoting pro-Kremlin BS, and becoming a favorite of Russian state media.

1/21

Candace started her career as an intern at Vogue magazine but later moved into political commentary. Her early career focused on criticizing Republicans, calling their antics “bat-shit crazy.” In 2016, her blog even published an article about Trump’s penis size.

2/21

That same year, she launched a doxxing website called SocialAutopsy. In response, people began posting Owens’s personal information online. During the controversy, she gained support from figures such as @Nero and @Cernovich. And just like that, she became a conservative.

3/21

Read 23 tweets

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

May 27

In today’s Wumao Soup, we’ll talk about Taiwan, the sovereign country the Chinese Communist Party insists is not a country, but constantly threatens to invade just like a country, while the “antiwar” crowd is eagerly encouraging them to start that war, endangering millions.

1/20

Taiwan is a country, a state. It has its own territory, government, army, police, courts, taxes, passports and elections, just like any other country.

The only difference? Its neighbor, imperialist China, wants to invade it, and other countries try to please the big bully.

2/20

Taiwan’s official name is the Republic of China, or ROC. The ROC was founded in 1912, after the fall of the Qing dynasty. The People’s Republic of China, or PRC, was founded by democidal dictator Mao Zedong and his communist party, in 1949, after fighting against the ROC.

3/20

Read 20 tweets

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

May 25

In today’s Vatnik Soup, we’ll introduce Russian propaganda operations around military targets like Starobilsk. For over a decade, the Kremlin has used similar strategies, combining crisis actors, “independent journalists” and fabricated evidence.

1/13

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1611980244252258304

First, let’s go back to 2014. Russia funded separatist groups and sent its mercenaries to Donbas, which led to the creation of two puppet states, Donetsk and Luhansk, governed by Russian propagandists and soldiers like Igor Girkin.

2/13

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1611980244252258304

The fake genocide was touted as one of the main reasons for Russia’s war during the early stages of the full-scale invasion, and the claim was made even by Putin himself. Before his mutiny, late Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said that all this was fabricated bullshit.

3/13

Read 14 tweets

Vatnik Soup

@P_Kallioniemi

May 11

In this 9th Debunk of the Day, we’ll discuss “legitimate military targets”. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine, with no declaration of war, hiding behind a “special military operation”. Yet vatniks & useful idiots pretend Russia has any legitimate or lawful targets in Ukraine.

1/8

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1938237244537479275

Russia started the war in 2014 by seizing Crimea with unmarked soldiers, “little green men”. Russians have been waging an undeclared, illegal war with endless war crimes ever since, whether it’s kidnapping of Ukrainian children with genocidal intent…

2/8

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1938237244537479275

… the concentration camps for Ukrainians under occupation, conscripting Ukrainians from occupied territories, or the terrorist, deliberate bombing of civilians, including their infamous “double tap” strikes.

So no, Russia does not have any “legitimate targets” in Ukraine.

3/8