In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce a Russian blogger, "independent journalist" and propagandist, Semen Pegov. He's best-known for his work at WarGonzo, a military project associated with the Russian military intelligence service GRU.
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Pegov started his journalism/propagandist career as a TV journalist for the Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Company in 2006. He was covering the Russo-Georgian War from the invaded Abkhazia, while working for a local TV channel.
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In 2020, he was detained by Belarusian police while covering the protests held by the supporters of presidential candidate and opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in Minsk.He was naturally released soon after, thanks to the intervention of the Russian Foreign Ministry.3/15
In Jan, 2022, Pegov spread fake news on his Telegram channel WarGonzo in which he accused the Ukrainian authorities of arming territorial defense forces & sending them to kill civilians in Donbas. This message was subsequently echoed by the Kremlin-controlled media channels.
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On 18 Feb, 2022, Semen was organizing casus belli for the upcoming Russian invasion, when he published a video of a destroyed car that belonged to one of the leaders, Denis Sinenkov, of the puppet state DPR.
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This car bombing was blamed on the Ukrainian special services, was referred as "preparation for Kyiv’s offensive", and was used as one of the reasons for the full-scale invasion.
Man, he was so lucky to be nearby when the bombing happened!
6/15
Throughout the summer of 2022, Pegov published a number of staged and fake photos, building up a narrative of Russian military success in Ukraine. In Apr, 2022, he posted pictures of dead Ukrainians soldiers, ...
7/15
...stating that the Russian military had killed "saboteurs from the Azov Regiment". An investigation revealed that these soldiers were executed with a shot to the head at point-blank range.
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In May, 2022, Semen published a fabricated story and video about the destruction of a 🇺🇦 drone. The video included a section that should've been cut out from the final version. In it, the Russian soldiers are waiting for Pegov's command to start firing an anti-aircraft gun.
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He also published a video allegedly discovering a secret biolab in Mariupol where NATO had conducted research on biological weapons.
But there's more! In Jul, 2022, he suggested on Russian media that the Turkish and the US governments were supplying veteran ISIS soldiers to Ukraine. He also claimed that he had seen an Al-Qaeda flag next to the Azov Regiment's flags in Mariupol.
11/15
And as is tradition in Russia, Pegov accused the Ukrainian forces of what the Russians had done before. He claimed that the Ukrainian army had used phosphorus munitions,an internationally banned method of warfare: dzen.ru/video/watch/62…
It was actually Russia who used them.12/15
In May, 2022, Pegov was banned from YouTube, but he subsequently moved to other platforms to spread his disinformation. His main channel of communication is Telegram.
In Sep, 2022, he was arrested for, according to WarGonzo, threatening a hotel administrator while drunk.
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Later on he was wounded near Donetsk after stepping on a petal mine. His leg had to be partially amputated.
As you can probably guess, Pegov's target audience is solely Russian, but many of his staged videos also make rounds on non-Russian propaganda channels.
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Pegov was allegedly awarded secretly with the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" for his propaganda work (or "objective coverage of events", as the Kremlin called it) during the annexation of Crimea.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the Wagner Group, its founders Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, and the mutiny they started on 23 Jun 2023. The event marked the climax of the Wagner Group–Russian MoD conflict, and finally led to the deaths of Prigozhin and Utkin.
1/22
Wagner has been used in many conflicts around the world, but they came to global prominence during the war in Donbas in 2014-2015. Wagnerites helped the Donbas separatists fight against the Ukrainians during the conflict, which helped Putin to “outsource” the insurrection.
2/22
The group doesn’t have any central ideology, but many of its members and leaders have ties to various neo—Nazi movements in Russia. For example, Wagner leader Dmitry Utkin had several Nazi symbols tattooed on his body. Neo—nazi group Rusich has also fights as part of Wagner.
3/22
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.