In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a Russo-Ukrainian businessman and politician, Oleg Tsaryov (@OlegTsarov). He's best-known for acting as a pro-Russian separatist officer in Donetsk, Ukraine, and revealing Yanukovych's plan to become the dictator of Ukraine.
1/19
Oleg was born in 1970 in Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro) in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. He became an MP in the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada in 2002, later joining Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions. He was re-elected again in 2006, in 2007, and in 2012.
2/19
When the 2013-2014 Revolution of Dignity got in full swing, Tsaryov was one of the most fervent supporters of using violent against the protestors, whom he called "terrorists, bandits and extremists."
3/19
In 2014 he self-appointed himself as a presidential candidate for the 2014 election, after which he was expelled from the Party of Regions. Few days later, he traveled to Donetsk and offered to become a leader of the separatist "South-east movement".
4/19
He'd assured that the Donetsk separatists would disrupt the upcoming presidential election, promising to create a "central authority" in Donetsk. It seems that Tsaryov was abandoned by pretty much everyone & his popularity at the presidential election was practically zero. 5/19
He'd lost all support of his previous party, and he was also beaten up by a mob after a TV interview. He eventually withdrew his presidential candidacy.
6/19
Come May 2014,Oleg had become such a loved person in Ukraine that there was allegedly a bounty of 1 million USD set on his head.A month later he was stripped of his parliamentary immunity & was sanctioned for arrest for calls to overthrow the Ukrainian constitutional system.
7/19
In Jun 2014, he became Speaker of the "Unity Parliament" for the puppet states of DPR and LPR. Tsaryov called for the creation of Federal State of Novorossiya, a confederation that he terminated later on because it "did not comply with the Minsk II accords".
8/19
Subsequently, Tsaryov fled to Russia. After Russia's full-scale invasion in Ukraine began, Oleg claimed that "as promised, the denazification operation has begun." A little later he declared that he was "already in Ukraine" and that "Kyiv will be liberated from the Nazis".
9/19
In Mar 2022, RT published a propaganda video of Oleg delivering humanitarian aid in Ukrainian territory invaded by Russia.
In Mar 2022, Tsaryov called on the Oleksandr Vilkul, mayor of Kryvyi Rih, to surrender the city to Russian troops, saying that "his" Russian troops...
10/19
...are "nearby the city". Oleg claimed that Vilkul had always taken "pro-Russian stance" and that they "used to be fellow party members". Vikul replied to Tsaryov "Fuck you, traitor, along with your masters!"
11/19
In Apr 2022, he declared that "this [Ukraine] has always been and will be Russian land and we are restoring sovereignty over this land." In Feb 2023, Russian political scientist, Sergei Markov, suggested that "Tsaryov would be a wonderful president of Ukraine."
12/19
In Mar 2023, Tsaryov a coup plan that was supposed to be done by Yanukovych and his Party of Regions,with the help of Putin. For some weird reason, this plan was revealed by Tsaryov.
13/19
The plan was to do the same that Lukashenko has done in Belarus - rewrite the constitution which would allow Yanukovych to become a president indefinitely. This was then supposed to provoke Ukraine's western regions into separatism (instead of the people in east of Ukraine).14/19
They even planned Oleh Tyahnybok of the far-right Svoboda party for the role of running separatist movement in the west of Ukraine. This of course is a clear indication that Yanukovych and his Party of Regions were actually Russian agents, trying to make Ukraine into...
15/19
...a puppet state under Kremlin rule a'la Belarus. It's worth noting, that this was one of the many plans that Yanukovych had hatched with the Russians, but the others weren't documented. This basically proves that Ukraine was at hands of foreign actors and that Ukrainians..16/19
... had no other chance than to protest and defend their country. One could even say that Maidan Revolution saved Ukraine, as this way Russia could only seize Crimea and parts of the Donbas Oblast, which will soon join Ukraine again.
17/19
So Tsaryov basically proved the "CIA-funded coup d'etat" narrative to be a lie, thus undermining Russia's propaganda efforts. Oops.
In May 2022, Tsaryov was sentenced In Ukraine in absentia to 12 years in prison.
18/19
Tsaryov was sanctioned in 2014 by the EU for calling for the creation of Federal State of Novorossiya & in 2014 by the UK government because of his involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian War. Tsaryov has three children, and as is tradition, two of them allegedly study in the UK.19/19
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
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
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:
In today’s Wumao Soup, I’ll introduce how and where the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) online propaganda and influence operations work. Due to China’s massive population and advances in AI, CCP-aligned online content has become increasingly visible.
1/20
Like Russia’s troll farms, China has its own troll army: the “50 Cent Party” or “Wumao” refers to state-linked online commentators who are reportedly paid ¥0.50 per post to steer discussions away from criticism and amplify CCP narratives on social media.
2/20
Back in 2017, a research paper estimated that the Wumao produced almost 500 million fabricated comments annually to distract readers and shift topics. In that sense, Wumao operates very similarly to the Russian “Firehose of Falsehood” model:
In today’s Vatnik Soup and the “Degenerate Russia” series, I’ll show you the brutal reality of Russian war crimes, in particular the horrific tortures and sexual abuses of children, women and men.
Buckle up, this one is not for the faint-hearted.
1/24
For over a decade now and as part of their “firehose of falsehood” propaganda strategy, Russia has been spreading false narratives targeted at right-wing/conservative audiences, portraying russia as a bastion of Christian, traditional,family values.
In the previous “degenerate Russia” series we discussed Russia’s insanely high divorce rates, rampant domestic violence, high murder rates, thriving neo-Nazi culture, corruption of the Orthodox Church, and their massive demographic problem:
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explore how Russia is working with Iran, and how the recent Israel–US strikes on Iran could affect the war in Ukraine. Iran has been one of Russia’s key allies in their genocidal war, but in reality the partnership is deeply one-sided.
1/21
Historically, Russia/USSR has been involved in numerous wars in the Middle East, invading Afghanistan for nearly a decade and desperately trying to keep Syria’s authoritarian leader, al-Assad, in power before his eventual downfall.
2/21
While initially supportive of Israel, the Soviet Union quickly pivoted to backing its enemies, fueling antisemitism, terrorism, and chaos in an already tense region. At times, this meant near-open war, like when Soviet Air Force MiG-21s were shot down by Israel over Egypt.
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll re-introduce a Latvian politician and former MEP, Tatjana Ždanoka. She’s best-known for her history in the Communist Party of Latvia, for her pro-Russian politics in the country, and her connections to Russian intelligence.
1/22
Based on Ždanoka’s speeches and social media posts, she has a deep hatred towards the people of Latvia. The reason for this can only be speculated, but part of it could be due to her paternal family being killed by the Latvian Auxiliary Police,…
2/22
…a paramilitary force supported by the Nazis, during the early 1940s. Ždanoka became politically active in the late 80s. She was one of the leaders of Interfront, a political party that supported Latvia remaining part of the USSR.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce the main themes of Russian disinformation on TikTok. Each day, there are thousands of new videos promoting pro-Kremlin narratives and propaganda.
It’s worth noting that Russians can only access European TikTok via VPN.
1/10
There is currently a massive TikTok campaign aimed at promoting a positive image of Russia. The videos typically feature relatively attractive young women and focus on themes of nationalism and cultural heritage.
2/10
Ironically, many of these videos from Moscow or St. Petersburg are deceptively edited to portray Ukraine in a false light — claiming there is no war and that international aid is being funneled to corrupt elites.