In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a Russian politician and military officer, Sergei Shoigu. He's best-known for serving as the Minister of Defence of Russia since 2012, for botching the invasion of Ukraine, and for being part of Putin's inner circle.
1/23
Shoigu was born in the impoverished Tuva Oblast, a remote area close to the Mongolian border. Later he studied at the Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institute, and later graduated with a degree in civil engineering. In the late 80s, he became active in the communist movement and...
2/23
... in 1990 he got a job as a deputy chairman through his father's connections. As Yeltsin came from a similar background, Sergei quickly gained his trust. He eventually became the head of the Russian Rescue Corps, an agency responsible for the rescue and disaster response...3/23
..system. In case of a disaster,he would be the first to appear at the site,thus presenting himself as the hero.Russia-expert @MarkGaleotti has stated that Shoigu had a "big PR team" to help with this. This role made Shoigu very popular, and he stayed on the job for 21 years.4/23
Unlike everyone else in Putin's inner circle, Sergei wasn't educated in St. Petersburg or Moscow, and who doesn't have either KGB background or is an old buddy of Putin's from his St. Petersburg days.
Both Putin and Shoigu regard themselves as "muzhiks", or real Russian men.
5/23
Shoigu has allegedly convinced Putin of taking baths in blood extract from severed deer antlers in order to improve his cardiovascular system and to rejuvenate his skin.
Shoigu was appointed as the Minister of Defence in Nov 2012. He was considered as a weird choice...
6/23
..for the role, as he's never served in the military. His predecessor, another civilian called Anatoly Serdyukov, had tried to reform and modernize the Russian army by reducing work force and implementing new taxation. Everyone in the army hated Serdyukov for his reforms,...
7/23
..and to gain the trust and to be credible in the eyes of the real generals, Shoigu gave military people cozy jobs as deputy ministers and wore an army general's outfit, regardless of never spending a day in the army. Shoigu also wanted to decorate his uniform with a bunch..
8/23
...of medals, but the problem again was that he didn't have any experience on the battlefield.
To solve this problem, he came up with hundreds of new medals and then awarded the most prestigious to himself.
9/23
Days before the invasion in Ukraine begun, Shoigu met with the UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, denying any upcoming attacks in Ukraine. At the beginning of the invasion, Shoigu disappeared for almost two weeks due to the complete failure of Russia's war effort.
10/23
Oleksandr Novikov, the head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention of Ukraine (NACP), sent a letter to Shoigu in Mar 2022, for "ensuring the high level of corruption in the Russian Army". With the letter he accompanied pictures of egg trays used as tank...
11/23
...protection, cardboard used in bulletproof vests, and the use of bright-colored civilian vehicles to transfer the Russian troops.
Last year Ukrainian, pro-Russian politician Kirill Stremousov suggested that Shoigu should "shoot himself" over Russia's military losses.
12/23
Stremousov died in a car accident on 9 Nov 2022, just a few hours before Shoigu ordered the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kherson. Igor Girkin agreed with Stremousov, stating that Shoigu should be "executed by firing squad".
13/23
Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin absolute loathes Shoigu. Since the beginning of the war, he's been criticizing Shoigu, called for his son-in-law to be drafted, and lately blamed Shoigu for not delivering enough ammunition to Wagner fighters around Bakhmut.
14/23
On 11 May 2023, Prigozhin wrote a derogatory letter to Shoigu, calling him to arrive to the front to evaluate the situation due to Shoigu's "multi-year combat experience".
Like Prigozhin, Shoigu has his own private military company called PMC Patriot.
15/23
It was deployed to fight in Ukraine in Dec 2022 around the town of Vuhledar. This front has been a disaster to the Russians, PMC Patriot & of course to Shoigu,as Ukrainian officials have claimed that the Russians have lost over 130 tanks & APC's in the course of the battle.
16/23
Shoigu's rhetoric regarding Ukraine has been predictable.He's claimed that Russia is at war with the "collective West", and that Russians and Ukrainians are "single people". He's tried to promote a false flag attack, claiming that the Ukrainians are preparing a "dirty bomb".17/23
As is the tradition in the Putin's inner circle, Shoigu is living a lavish life in his 18 million USD mansion in Barvikha, registed in the name of his family members. Shoigu's declared annual family income during the purchase was 173 million rubles, or 2,66 million USD,...
18/23
so it's a mystery how he could afford the place (no it's not). The Insider has reported that Shoigu's mistress, stewardess Elena Shebunova, quickly became a millionaire after she started her affair with Sergei. She moved next door to the Rotenberg oligarch family, ...
19/23
...in an estate worth 1,5 billion rubles. She also got sewing, food and construction projects worth over 100 million USD, ordered by the Defense Ministry. Elena was recently exiled from Lithuania after being considered a security threat.
20/23
Shoigu's youngest daughter, Ksenia, who also owns the beforementioned mansion, is married to a sports blogger Alexei Stolyarov. Recently, Stolyarov visited Luhansk for a PR trip to support Russia's failing "special operation" in Ukraine.
21/23
As is tradition, Ksenia and Alexei also traveled around the "decadent West" and various NATO countries, while Sergei was threatening the West with war.
Here they are pictured in Florence, Italy, in 2021.
22/23
Shoigu was sanctioned by the EU, the US, the UK and Canada immediately after the full-scale invasion in Feb 2022.
The Siberian Times have reported that Sergei is a polyglot and known to speak eight languages. It seems that he's most fluent in bullshit.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the Wagner Group, its founders Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, and the mutiny they started on 23 Jun 2023. The event marked the climax of the Wagner Group–Russian MoD conflict, and finally led to the deaths of Prigozhin and Utkin.
1/22
Wagner has been used in many conflicts around the world, but they came to global prominence during the war in Donbas in 2014-2015. Wagnerites helped the Donbas separatists fight against the Ukrainians during the conflict, which helped Putin to “outsource” the insurrection.
2/22
The group doesn’t have any central ideology, but many of its members and leaders have ties to various neo—Nazi movements in Russia. For example, Wagner leader Dmitry Utkin had several Nazi symbols tattooed on his body. Neo—nazi group Rusich has also fights as part of Wagner.
3/22
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an Amsterdam-based propaganda channel, Bonanza Media (@bonanzamedia2). It’s best-known for producing & spreading online pro-Kremlin propaganda videos while closely coordinating & collaborating with the Russian intelligence agency GRU.
1/19
Russian intelligence has been extremely active in the Netherlands for a long time. For example in 2018, four GRU agents were caught while trying to hack into OPCW,an organization that monitors the use of chemical weapons. In addition, the International Criminal Court (ICC)…
2/19
…and the MH17 investigation have become targets for the Russian intelligence and propaganda operations. These operations are often complemented with “investigative journalism” media outlets, that often echo the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll talk about the recent EU elections and what are their implications for both the Kremlin and Ukraine. Right-wing political parties, some pro-Kremlin, won a lot of seats around Europe, and this result can also change the EU’s stance on Ukraine.
1/19
But before we start, I want to promote a truck fundraiser I'm doing together with the fantastic @ArturRehi and @69thSB.
Our goal is 20 000 USD, and you can contribute to this important fundraiser here:
EU’s support of Ukraine is essential for their survival against genocidal Russia. So far,this support has been delayed mostly by Orban’s Hungary (& to some degree, Fico’s Slovakia). Now, this support will probably be challenged by many new members of the European Parliament.
3/19
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss a specific propaganda/disinformation that the Kremlin likes to use – antisemitism. I also talk about how the Russian society itself has become riddled with antisemitism & how this has led to a decrease in Jewish population in the country.
1/19
Russian antisemitism works on many levels, and their narratives vary depending whether they’re targeting a local audience or people in Europe and the US. For example for the latter, Russia attempts to create a false narrative of Ukraine being an antisemitic “Nazi state”.
2/19
But before diving deeper, let’s look at a survey data of Russians in 2023: Nearly 30 million Russians harbour antisemitic attitudes, and 15% of those surveyed believed that “Jews were responsible for most of the world’s wars.” 38% think that the Jews have...
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Ukrainian media personality and propagandist, Diana Panchenko (@Panchenko_X). She’s best-known for betraying her own country by peddling anti-Zelenskyy and anti-Ukraine propaganda and disinformation for the Kremlin.
1/22
Panchenko was born in 1988 in the Mykolaev Oblast in Ukrainian SSR in 1988. She studied publishing and editing at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and later graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with a degree in law.
2/22
After graduating, Diana worked briefly for the news site . Between 2010 and 2015, Panchenko was a presenter for KyivTV, but she found her true calling as a pro-Kremlin propagandist after she was hired by a national “news channel” called NewsOne.