In today's #vatniksoup and another edition of "You pronounced this nonsense, not me", I'll talk about an event called the Revolution of Dignity AKA Maidan Revolution. It was a wave of demonstrations in Ukraine that took place in 2013 and 2014.
1/24
Many pro-Russian voices, including Russell Brand (@rustyrockets), have said that what happened at Maidan was actually a far-right wing organized coup d'etat - let's see if this argument holds.
First, let's talk about what led to the civil unrest. In Feb, 2013, Verkhovna...
2/24
...Rada, Ukraine's parliament, had overwhelmingly approved (315 of 349 MP's voted "Yes") the implementation of Ukraine's aspirations for European integration and the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. EU then said that this agreement wouldn't be ratified,...
3/24
...unless Ukraine addressed some stark human rights violations, including the imprisonment of opposition figures Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko.
As a countermeasure, Russia imposed some heavy sanctions on Ukraine in Aug, 2013: they stopped all incoming goods from ...
4/24
...Ukraine, which caused Ukraine's export to drop by 1,4 billion USD. This also caused a dramatic drop in Ukraine's industrial production.
On Nov 21, 2013, after extensive propaganda campaigns by the Kremlin, the Ukrainian Government suspended preparations for the EU...
5/24
...agreement and rejected to draft laws that would've released Tymoshenko and Lutsenko, which erupted protests in Kyiv.
Finally, Yanukovych was supposed to sign the agreement at the EU Summit in Vilnius at the end of Nov, 2013, but he didn't, and the protests grew bigger.
6/24
To pour gasoline on the fire, Russians countered the anti-EU stance In Dec, 2013, by offering a 15 billion USD loan (the EU had offered only 838 million USD) and cheaper gas prices if Ukraine wouldn't sign the Association Agreement.
The Euromaidan protest, that would...
7/24
..eventually become the Revolution of Dignity,began on 21 Nov, 2013 as a peaceful demonstration of 1500 people, summoned by a Afghan-Ukrainian journalist Mustafa Nayyem (@mefimus).
Only a week later Yanukovych ordered the state riot police,Berkut,to violently disperse the..
8/24
...protest. But a few days later the rioters came back, which resulted in more violence and ultimately to a new anti-protest laws that would make future protests much more difficult.
But this law only agitated the people, and the protests weren't happening only in Kyiv ...
9/24
...- large anti-Yanukovych and pro-EU protests were also seen in other cities around Ukraine,including Lviv, Kharkiv, Ternopil, Sumy, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Mariupol and Luhansk.
Later Yanukovych hired provocateur thugs called Titushky to agitate crowds ...
10/24
...and start fights. Titushky would attend peaceful demonstrations and then would at some point start fights and instigate violence in these crowds. Later during the protests, they started firing, along with Berkut, into protesting crowds with live ammo, beat protesters...
11/24
...with bats and iron pipes and even shot dead a Ukrainian journalist, Vyacheslav Veremiy. For this "work",they received good money - around 100USD per day.
By January the protests had become bigger and more violent, as more and more people defied the draconian...
12/24
anti-protest laws. Feb 18-20, 2014, was the most violent period of the Maidan protests. In just span of few days, almost 100 people were killed as thousands of protesters attempted to storm the Parliament, only to be met with bullets from Berkut snipers.
13/24
Finally on 21 Feb, 2014, Yanukovych and opposition leaders signed an agreement to form an interim government, reduce president's power and impose early elections. The next day, Yanukovych fled to Crimea and two days after that he finally fled to Russia.
14/24
On 27 Feb, after realizing that they could no longer control the revolution, Russians started the annexation of Crimea.
So, were there neo-Nazis at Euromaidan? Yes. Svoboda, Right Sector, Misanthropic Division, Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists and UNA-UNSO are all ...
15/24
...such groups, and they were also involved in the violent acts during the protests. If there's an uprising where a nation tries to separate itself from a dictator and from external influence, or where people fight a perceived threat, why wouldn't the nationalist be there?
16/24
But in the grand scheme of things, nationalists were just a small fraction (not more than 15% at different stages of the Revolution) of the protesting population.Often these type of extreme groups are active in violent protesting, as they have hard time getting recognition..17/24
...in politics and feel disenfranchised: for example, in the 2019 elections, they received 2,2% of the total vote.
Were they funded by the US to organize a coup d'etat like Igor Lopatonok's (@lopatonok) and Oliver Stone's "Ukraine on Fire" silly documentary suggests? No.
18/24
Some organization from the US have influenced Ukrainian politics since the Orange Revolution of 2004, but there is no evidence of them funding any kind of coup in Ukraine. Organizations like National Endowment for Democracy and US Agency for International Development...
19/24
...offer support and help in matters like democratic assistance, democracy promotion and civil society support.
Yet, we don't have to be naive here: their ultimate goal is to affect the country's foreign policy, but in my opinion it is better to do it through this...
20/24
...type of peaceful organization than by, as the Russians do, by force and extortion. Propagandists like Branko Marcetic (@BMarchetich) have grasped at straws, trying to connect prominent US figures like John McCain who supported the protests and briefly met with Svoboda...
21/24
...leader Oleh Tyahnybok, and Victoria Nuland, who "handed out sandwiches to them", to the protests. If meeting rather unimportant actors and giving them sandwiches is the criteria for supporting a coup d'etat, then the bar is set pretty damn low.
22/24
Another "evidence" of US meddling is an intercepted call at the midst of Euromaidan between then-Assistant Secretary of State,Victoria Nuland and the US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt,where she tells him who she thinks should run Ukraine and also claims "Fuck the EU".23/24
All this banter is of course normal in private conversations, yet neither of these people have actual influence over who the Ukrainians vote to power. This imperialistic mindset ignores the sovereignty of 🇺🇦 and simply suggests that they can't decide anything by themselves.
24/24
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce Russian propagandist Sergei Tsaulin. He’s best-known for spreading pro-Kremlin narratives in Estonia, fleeing to Russia after breaking several laws in Estonia, and almost getting blown up by a bomb in St. Petersburg.
1/17
For years, Tsaulin was known for organizing marches and events glorifying the Soviet Union. Under the excuse of “remembering history,” these events were nothing more than Kremlin propaganda, wrapped in a red flag with a hammer and sickle.
2/17
One of his most infamous events was the “Immortal Regiment” march, held every 9th of May, where people carried portraits of Soviet soldiers. These marches are used by Russia to push the idea that the Baltics owe their existence to the Soviets.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a podcaster and conspiracy theorist, Joe Rogan (@joerogan). He’s best-known for launching the biggest podcast in the world, promoting various conspiracy theories, his support for Donald Trump and his anti-Ukraine rhetoric.
1/22
Joe Rogan started as a stand-up comedian in the 1980s, found fame on NewsRadio, and became a household name with Fear Factor. But his biggest impact came in 2009 when he launched The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), one of the first major podcasts.
2/22
JRE started as casual but deep conversations, often covering countercultural topics like psychedelics, MMA & hunting. Joe’s podcasting style is largely non-confrontational, often allowing his guests to share their views without significant pushback or critical questioning.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce KOOS party leader and Estonian crypto businessman Oleg Ivanov. He’s best known for running shady businesses, spreading Russian false narratives in Estonia, and participating in the pro-Kremlin political party KOOS.
1/18
As a talented youngster, Oleg learned Estonian almost flawlessly, was a promising karate athlete, and landed a job at a law firm at just 20. He caught the eye of Estonian fuel entrepreneur Endel Siff, who quickly took him under his wing.
2/18
Oleg’s father, Vladimir Ivanov, was a longtime politician from the Russian-funded United People’s Party of Estonia. His career at the town hall ended abruptly when he was caught drunk at work. After that, he went into business with his son, Oleg.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about the takeover of social media by illiberal, populist influencers. For the last ten years, social media has been dominated by these voices and it is one of the main reasons for the political rise of people like Trump and Orban.
1/25
“Illiberal populists” like Trump reject democratic norms while claiming to speak for “the people.” They centralize power, attack institutions, and push nationalism over rights. Elections exist, but checks & balances erode. This is democracy in name, autocracy in action.
2/25
The media landscape has changed drastically over the past two decades. The Internet and social media have changed how we interact online & how we consume media,but it has also become our main source of news. In many ways,social media companies have control over information.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce Lithuanian far-right politician and Seimas member Remigijus Žemaitaitis. He’s best known for his extremist political views and for falling for a scam that convinced him he was flying to New York to meet Elon Musk.
1/17
Like many vatniks before him, Remigijus worked as a lawyer before entering the world of politics. Once just another politician, he gradually embraced far-right nationalism and populism, following a trend seen across Europe over the past 15 years.
2/17
Instead of real policies, he tapped into fear, resentment, and anger, turning 4chan talking points into a populist political strategy. His speeches became more extreme, targeting minorities, Western institutions, and Lithuania’s support for Ukraine.