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 Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll reintroduce an American political commentator and pro-Kremlin propagandist, Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson). He’s best known for his promotion of crazy conspiracy theories and for his support of authoritarian regimes around the world.
1/24
Tucker’s career spans decades, but he’s also been very active in recent years, so a lot has happened since our previous soup on him, which can be found here:
Once described as “the most powerful conservative in America”, Tucker has now fully transformed into a grifting conspiracy theorist and propagandist willing to work for whoever pays him the most. It’s unclear whether Tucker truly believes his endless conspiracy theories or…
3/24
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the agenda-setting and flood of disinformation that spread on X and other platforms right after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. It’s far from the first or last time a tragedy has been weaponized for political purposes.
1/18
Every major political event, especially those involving violence, attracts massive attention. In the immediate aftermath, reliable information is scarce, making it highly vulnerable to both coordinated and improvised disinformation campaigns.
2/18
As I’ve mentioned in my previous soups and lectures, in disinformation campaigns, being first with a narrative is crucial, as people often remember the first version best — psychology studies show it sets the mental schema, and later updates rarely overwrite it.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce American social media personality David Freeman, AKA Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman). He’s best known for spreading political disinformation on X and shamelessly sucking up to Trump, Putin, and other authoritarian leaders.
1/22
David is a textbook example of someone profiting from MAGA grievance politics. He uses extreme, provocative language to farm engagement on X and never hesitates to flatter anyone who might give him more exposure — or money.
2/22
But David wasn’t always like this. At some point, in his mid-40s, he even tried a real job: he trained to become a cop. He spent three years with the Metro Transit PD, but after that he either got fired or quit, and never looked back.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian-Estonian businessman, Oleg Ossinovski. He is best-known for his deep ties to Russian rail and energy networks, shady cross-border dealings, and for channeling his wealth into Estonian politics.
1/14
Oleg made his fortune via Spacecom Trans & Skinest Rail, both deeply tied to Russia’s rail system. Most of this is through Globaltrans Investments PLC, a Cyprus-based firm with 62% held via Spacecom and tens of millions in yearly profits.
2/14
Ossinovski’s Russian-linked ventures made him Estonia’s richest man in 2014, with an estimated fortune of ~€300M. His business empire stretched across railways, oil via Alexela shares, and Russian bitumen imports from Help-Oil, a supplier to the Defense Ministry.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Swiss/French writer, Alain Bonnet, aka Alain Soral (@officielsoral). He’s best known for his rabid antisemitism and for his pathetic support for all the worst authoritarian regimes from Russia to North Korea.
1/22
Alain’s childhood was problematic, as his father has been characterized as a “narcissistic pervert” who beat his children and did jail time for fraud. Alain himself has said he was “programmed to be a monster.” Born Alain Bonnet, he took the stage name of his sister,…
2/22
… actress Agnès Soral. She wasn’t too happy about this, commenting “How would you like to be called Agnès Hitler?”. Like many grifters, he became a pick-up/seduction artist writer, à la late Gonzalo Lira, writing books and even making a B-movie, “Confessions d’un dragueur”.
3/22