In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a Russian politician and economist, Sergey Glazyev. He's best-known for his long career in Russian politics, and for his leaked phone calls in regard to Russian meddling in Ukraine before, during and after the Revolution of Dignity.
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Sergey was born in Zaporizhzhia, in the Ukrainian SSR. His father was Russian & mother Ukrainian. After getting his doctorate from the Moscow State University,he entered government service becoming the First Deputy Minister of External Economic Relations under Yegor Gaidar.
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Gaidar was best-known for his economic reform known as "shock therapy" - with the help of US economists, Gaidar and his posse tried to transform the Soviet system into free market capitalism overnight. It was a disaster for everyone except the oligarchs and organized crime.
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Glazyev was elected to State Duma in 1993, collaborating with now-eunuch Dmitry Rogozin. He was also involved in the short-lived nationalist party, the Congress of Russian Communities, whose main function was to work as a fake opposition for Boris Yeltsin.
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He also ran for President in 2004, gaining 4,1% of the total vote. In 2007, Sergey announced that he'd leave Russian politics, arguing that Putin's authoritarianism had killed all opposition in the country, only to come back after Putin appointed him as a presidential aide.
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In Mar, 2014 Sergey stated that the "entire crisis in Ukraine was orchestrated, provoked, and financed by American institutions in cooperation with their European partners," continuing that these institutions financed and trained the Ukrainian neo-Nazi movement.
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A year before, in 2013, he called Ukraine's collective will to integrate into the EU as a "some kind of sick self-delusion". He called former President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, a Nazi, stating that he was elected illegitimately.
As is tradition in Russia,...
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..he said that "this Nazi government is bombing the largest region in Ukraine [referring to Donbas]". In Aug 2017, he claimed that Ukraine is "occupied territory", with only "servicemen of American aggressors" who receive instructions and funding from the American embassy.
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But this is all basic level State Duma member/Kremlin propagandist rhetoric, what makes Glazyev different from others? In 2016 Ukrainian authorities published phone calls intercepted by the SBU between Glaziev and people who were directly involved in the pro-Russian...
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...demonstrations in various cities around Ukraine, including Odessa and Kharkiv in 2014. As the Surkov leaks of 2016 provided evidence for the Russian meddling in the Donbas in 2014 and after, the Glazyev tapes proved it in various other areas.
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Based on these leaks, Russia was planning to invade the so-called Novorossiya, consisting of large Ukrainian regions in the east and in the south of Ukraine, thus creating a land bridge to Crimea.
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In the phone calls, Glazyev instructed the pro-Russian agents on how to increase the impact of the riots and how to eventually occupy administration buildings. He also instructed these agents on receiving funding for the insurrections.
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From his phone call to "Prime Minister of Crimea", Sergey Aksyonov, we get a general idea how the process goes: throw out the "Banderovtsy" (Neo-Nazis) from the building council, gather executive authority and appeal Mr Putin for assistance against the "evil Nazis".
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In the calls he also states that the riots must look as if they were grassroots with local residents as the main actors despite the funding coming from Russia. The leaks also offer damning evidence against Glazyev on so called 2014 Odessa clashes, in which 46 pro-Russian...
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...and 2 pro-Ukrainian people died, and which pro-Russian propagandists like Aaron Maté have occasionally used as an evidence against "Ukrainian neo-Nazis". A call between State Duma member Konstantin Zatulin and Glazyev proved that Russia funded the riots both in ...
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...Kharkiv and in Odessa. They also talk about Crimea, complaining how some pro-Russian politicians didn't show up to a demonstration. Glazyev commented on the situation as follows: "Holy fuck. We fed them for so long". Glazyev also funded the Cossacks, a pro-Russian ...
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...militant group for partaking the riots in Crimea. Glazyev also talked about a "woman who will be buried soon." She had died during the riots, and he wanted to turn her funeral into a propaganda piece: "This has to all be done properly in the propaganda sense. So they...
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..will be heroes and so on. So that people would be there.This event is very important."In one of the phone calls,Glazyev also referred to a certain "Slava",extremely likely referring to Vladislav Surkov who developed the strategic plan for the annexation of Crimea & Donbas.18/24
In another call between Glazyev and Zatulin, they plan to create a pro-Russian Automaidan - a motorized response to the Ukrainian Automaidan movement. For this, they asked "the Surgeon", the founder of the biker club "Night Wolves" for assistance. Sergey also calls ...
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.."the Surgeon" to help them with Zaporizhzhia:" The key city which needs support in Zaporizhzhia. Because without Zaporizhzhia,Crimea won’t survive, it’s not viable." Under Ukrainian control, Crimea got its energy and water from the mainland.
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So, there it is: the Russian plan to steal a large chunk of Ukraine to create a land bridge between Russia and Crimea, to capture Odessa, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, the Donbas... and all this revealed to us already back in 2016.
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The plan can of course be originated way back to the end of the 90's, when Alexander Dugin laid the plans in his 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics.
Recently Glazyev has become a prominent figure again, pushing for the BRICS collaboration and the abandonment of the USD.
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He's also commented on the collapse of the ruble, basically saying that the Central Bank of Russia knows what they're doing. But in regard to economic issues, how much trust should one put on a guy who was one of the leaders of the Russian "shock therapy" in the early...
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...1990s, leading to the total collapse of the country's economic system?
In Mar 2014, right after the Russian annexation of Crimea, Glazyev became one of the first people to be sanctioned by the US.
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll introduce a Russian ultra-nationalist propagandist and “philosopher”, Aleksandr Dugin. He’s best-known for his blueprint on Russia’s geopolitical strategy and for his genocidal rhetoric towards Ukrainians.
1/17
In my first Dugin Soup, I covered the man’s 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics — a manual for dismantling the West, breaking up NATO, and building a Russian-led empire. In it, he makes eerie “predictions” that seem to be playing out today.
2/17
Dugin called for destabilizing the US by exacerbating internal divisions. Fast forward to today: culture wars, conspiracy theories, far-right lunatics, and social media algorithms doing half the work for him.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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“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.
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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.