In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American propagandist and podcaster, Donbass Devushka. She's best-known for her fake Russian identity, for her pro-Russian podcast, and for spreading false, pro-Russian narratives on social media.
1/23
Donbass Devushka wasn't always working under this pseudonym - during the summer of 2022, her alias was Mila Medvedev or @LuganskforLife (and also CheburekiVibes, MeatballSubZero, YuGopnik, GhostofLugansk).
2/23
While active under this account, she's posted several photos of herself, and confirmed working also under the pseudonym "Donbass Devushka" through a link to her post on Patreon.
3/23
In the past, she's stated that she's a "poor woman from Luhansk", but she's actually just a regular Yankee girl, living in Oak Harbor, Washington. She's originally from New Jersey and was married from 2011 until 2021.
4/23
Perhaps as an attempt to become more credible, she's changed her real name to a Russian sounding one at the end of Mar 2023.
5/23
Before she was working for a shop that sold tropical fish, but after the war started, she must've smelled a good niche for making some extra money, and started creating pro-Russian propaganda on various social media channels.
6/23
The Donbass Devushka YouTube channel was created in Jul, 2022, and @LuganskforLife Twitter account followed after one month. The YouTube channel is actually a collective of various people doing interviews and podcasts, and boy oh boy, do these interviews stink of vatnik.
7/23
Her Telegram channel was also one of the first places where the doctored leaks of Jack Teixeira were detected. These fakes had decreased Russian military losses drastically, while the Ukrainian ones were increased.
8/23
Many of them have been covered in earlier #vatniksoup threads, including Jackson "Z" Hinkle, Eva Bartlett, Scott Ritter and Gonzalo Lira. In these podcasts, "Devushka" fakes a terrible Russian accent, which she forgets to do every now and then.
9/23
The contents of the podcast are exactly as you'd imagine, full of BS like "Ukrainian Nazis", bioweapons labs, multipolar world, praise of Putin, mockery of the West, NATO and Joe Biden... basic vatnikology 101.
10/23
But there's nothing new in people ditching their old life and becoming propagandists for dirty Russian money, it's happened with people like Z-Hinkle, Mike "iEarlGrey" Jones, Karin Kneissl... in these circles, Devushka is still just a nobody. But what is much more...
11/23
...interesting in this case, is how her real identity was discovered. The whole operation was conducted by Shiba Inu unit of the #NAFO battallion. The identity of Devushka had been under scrutiny for long time, and finally they could piece the whole thing together to ...
12/23
...find out her real identity as a Jersey girl. The group noticed that some trolls had trolled Devushka's account by calling her by her real name. They then found out that she was married before, and found old photos of her from Facebook.
13/23
With this information, they identified her home address, and compared photos from her social media accounts to other open source images of her alleged address - and they matched. They even managed to get a confirmation through a reflection from the sunglasses she was ...
14/23
...wearing, and from the color of the wall paint her house has. Then they tracked her marriage certificate to find her birth date, and it matched with the one she posted on her Telegram channel.
15/23
Finally, they obtained a video of her working for the tropical fish joint and matched her voice to Devushka's, just without the fake Russian accent.
16/23
Of course this tactical unit also looked into her family tree: she's stated that in addition to being Russian, she's also Jewish. By referring to her Jewish heritage, she had a free pass to criticize Jews for pretty much everything (which is exactly what she did).
17/23
But of course there was neither Russian or Jewish blood in her, which was proved by looking at her parent's names in her marriage certificate.
18/23
So, one of the biggest pro-Russian disinformation and propaganda pushers online claimed to be a Russian-Jew from Luhansk, but actually turned out to be a divorced, middle-aged woman from Jersey. But that's not all: there's still the money she's been collecting through...
19/23
...various donation channels. On her TG channel, she's stated that all the funds go towards charity, for example to Mariupol, and to "Donbassian refugees in Rostov". For collecting donations, Devushka used several channels, including BuyMeACoffee, crypto wallets and Locals.
20/23
She's also collaborated with Rybar, a Russian news outlet focusing on military analysis also connected to Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Now here's a problem that Devushka might be facing: Russia is heavily sanctioned, and in case to fundraising efforts were real, she's potentially...21/23
...violated them. If they weren't then it's a regular fraud.The Shiba Inus also checked her crypto wallets,and noticed that they had received funds on several occasions, but there were no traces of money being sent out. Based on this evidence, I'd go with the 'fraud' option.22/23
As of today, Donbass Devushka's account @PelmeniPusha has been suspended.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explain the Alaska Fiasco and how it marks the peak of Trump’s two-year betrayal of Ukraine. What was sold as “peace talks” turned into a spectacle of weakness, humiliation, empty promises, and photo-ops that handed Putin exactly what he wanted.
1/24
Let’s start with the obvious: Trump desperately wants the gold medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, mainly because Obama got one. That’s why he’s now LARPing as a “peace maker” in every conflict: Israel-Gaza, Azerbaijan-Armenia, India-Pakistan, and of course Ukraine-Russia.
2/24
Another theory is that Putin holds kompromat — compromising material such as videos or documents — that would put Trump in an extremely bad light. Some have suggested it could be tied to the Epstein files or Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about engagement farming: a cynical social media tactic to rack up likes, shares, and comments. From rage farming to AI-powered outrage factories, engagement farming is reshaping online discourse and turning division into profit.
1/23
Engagement farming is a social media tactic aimed at getting maximum likes, shares, and comments, with truth being optional. It thrives on provocative texts, images, or videos designed to spark strong reactions, boost reach, and turn online outrage into clicks and cash.
2/23
One subset of engagement farming is rage farming: a tactic built to provoke strong negative emotions through outrageous or inflammatory claims. By triggering anger or moral outrage, these posts often generate 100s or even 1,000s of heated comments, amplifying their reach.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the autocratic concept of “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars”: the idea that the leader is wise and just, but constantly sabotaged by corrupt advisors. This narrative shields the ruler from blame, and it’s used by both Putin and Trump today.
1/20
The phrase “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars” (Царь хороший, бояре плохие), also known as Naïve Monarchism, refers to a long-standing idea in Russian political culture: the ruler is good and benevolent, but his advisors are corrupt, incompetent and responsible for all failures.
2/20
From this perception, any positive action taken by the government is viewed as being an accomplishment of the benevolent leader, whereas any negative one is viewed as being caused by lower-level bureaucrats or “boyars”, without the approval of the leader.
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
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
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.
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
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
Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.
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
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
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.