Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Mar 10, 2023 22 tweets 11 min read Read on X
In today's #vatniksoup and another edition of "You pronounced this nonsense, not me", I'll go through some of the most common pro-Russian claims and tropes. I have discussed these in previous soups, but I feel like this type of general collection would be a helpful resource.
1/23
As many of you know, the Kremlin and other pro-Russian propagandists like to repeat the same old lies over and over again. This is part of the "Firehose of Falsehood" system that they have been using at least since 2013, probably even longer:


2/23
Let's go through some of these stories:

1) "Ukrainians shelled Donbas for 8 years, killing 14 000 Russian civilians" - This lie was promoted even by Putin himself. It is naturally not true, as Russians provoked the whole conflict in Donbas and the UN data tells us...

3/23
...that almost 11 000 deaths were actually Russian and Ukrainian soldies, and around 3500 casualties were civilians, of which 9% came from the shooting down of MH17. Read more here:

4/23
2) "Ukraine is ran by Nazis" - The far-right party, "Svoboda" got around 2% of the total vote, and didn't get any representatives to Verkhovna Rada.Most "evidence" for Ukrainian Nazis are anecdotal, and the far-right Azov Battalion has been disbanded:
lens.monash.edu/@politics-soci…
5/23
There probably are some soldiers who have far-right views in the Ukrainian Army, but so does every other army, too. Russians, on the other hand, have a huge problem with far-right groups:

6/23
It's worth noting that this narrative is not even targeted so much at Western people. The rhetoric of "The Great Patriotic War" (meaning WW2 where the Soviets fought against the Nazis) is mainly targeted at Russians, as they see it as a great victory.

7/23
This war has been sold to them as a natural continuation of it, which is why they need the Nazi-angle: it allows them to make up a story of "we beat them once and now we have to beat them again".

8/23
3) "US started the war by supporting coup d'etat in 2014 on Maidan" - Not true. Maidan was an organic event, but it's still a very complex issue. The US supported Ukrainian democratic processes through an association called National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which...

9/23
...pro-Russian propagandists call it a "CIA-funded entity". They base this on individual quote, naturally taken out of context, by Allen Weinstein: "Much of NED's work involves doing what the CIA used to do". Weinstein refers to the change in US strategy of from covert...
10/23
...action (CIA-funded covert coup d'etats) to overt actions (support of democratic processes through overt and transparent organizations), stating that the latter strategy is much more efficient.

I will write more about Maidan, NED, etc. in the near future.

13/23
4) "Ukraine broke the Minsk agreement" - Ukraine and Russia both did, and the whole thing wasn't really going to work anyway. Neil Abrams (@neil_abrams) have written extensively about this topic, check his thread here:

14/21
5) "Russian-speaking Ukrainians are being oppressed in Ukraine" - First of all, it was the Soviets and Stalin who tried to destroy Ukrainian culture by transporting huge numbers of people to other parts of the USSR. This is how he tried to get rid of the Crimean Tatars.

15/23
He also tried to fill the Donbas Oblast with Russian miners and other workers, and denied local Ukrainians of their culture and language.

Second, no Russians are being oppressed, it's just a story developed by the Kremlin and by Vladislav Surkov:

16/23
6) "NATO provokes the war with its expansion" - Another issue that I have written about previously. No such promises were ever made beyond East Germany, and if James Baker had said it, nothing was ever put on paper.

17/23
Even if he did mean it and we follow this logic, Putin should retreat from Crimea because in 2008 he said that it is part of Ukraine - just watch this interview. More about NATO expansion here:

18/23
7) "Ukraine has banned the Orthodox Church in Ukraine" - This bullshit was spread by Donald Trump Jr., saying that Zelenskyy is "banning Ukrainian Orthodox Church", apparently trying to appeal to the American Christian population.

19/23
Of course he hasn't, as he only banned Kremlin-connected religious groups. This was done because there is solid evidence that these groups were spying on behalf of Russia.

20/23
8) "Zelenskyy is a drug addict money launderer who dances in drag" - Various bad actors have tried to make Zelenskyy a greedy drug-addict but the only prove for this are the deep fake videos and photoshopped images making rounds on social media.

21/23
Some even argue that because Zelenskyy was dancing in high heels and drag on music video, he's not fit to run the country. This is of course another version of the "Decadent West" trope, pushing for "traditional values" instead of things like LGBTQ+ rights.

22/23
But tell me: which country's leader is happily married with children, and which has illegitimate children, history of divorce, and at least one secret mistress? Read more about Zelenskyy disinfo here:

23/23
Support my work (and get some AI art!): buymeacoffee.com/PKallioniemi

Past soups: vatniksoup.com

• • •

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

Keep Current with Pekka Kallioniemi

Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

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

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @P_Kallioniemi

Jul 28
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 Image
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 Image
Image
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.

3/20 Image
Read 21 tweets
Jul 27
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 Image
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 Image
Image
Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.

Country code for the phone number is in Pakistan.

3/5 Image
Read 5 tweets
Jul 15
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 Image
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 Image
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.

3/21 Image
Read 23 tweets
Jul 14
While Ukrainians are terror bombed on a daily basis, rich Russians live in Europe like kings and queens.

This young lady lives in Portugal, and travels freely to Ibiza...
...the Alps...
... and of course Paris.
Read 5 tweets
Jul 7
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American national security policy professional and the current under secretary of defense for policy, Elbridge Colby (@ElbridgeColby). He’s best-known for fighting with cartoon dogs online and for halting military aid to Ukraine.

1/21 Image
Elbridge "Cheese" Colby earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Before entering government, he worked at top think tanks and in the intelligence community, focusing on nuclear policy and strategic planning.

2/21 Image
Image
Cheese quickly became a key voice for a “China First” strategy, arguing the US must prioritize military buildup in Asia over commitments in Europe or the Middle East. He sees (or saw, rather) Taiwan as the core test of US credibility.

3/21 Image
Image
Read 23 tweets
Jul 6
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 Image
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 Image
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:

3/15

vatniksoup.com/en/soups/
Read 15 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(