In today's #vatniksoup and in the second edition of "Where are they now?", I'll do an update on some of your favorite vatniks around the world & report on what they've been up to.
If there's someone or something you'd like to hear more about, let me know in the comments👇
1/21
Let's start with some revelations regarding Russia's hybrid warfare operations in the West. The recent collaboration between Nordic public broadcasting companies revealed that the Russians have been focusing their espionage efforts around critical infrastructure in the...
2/21
...Nordic countries. These include wind farms, oil platforms, and undersea cables.
Watch The Shadow War with English subtitles here:
3/21
The Danish journalists, including @kevinshakir and @LisbethQuass, have also exposed a plan where Russian intelligence services organize false anti-Erdogan protests to sow discord between Turkey and EU countries, and to prevent Sweden's NATO membership.
4/21
This was inspired Rasmus Paludan's Quran-burning incident back in Jan 2023, and Russia was able to coordinate at least one anti-Erdogan demonstration in France in Mar 2023. Incidentally, one demonstration was also organized in Finland in early Mar 2023, ...
5/21
...but it is unclear if it had any external coordination. The event was broadcasted by @HuuhtanenPanu, a Finnish vatnik who is allegedly about to sue me for... something.
As we can see, the Russian fifth column is still strong in Europe. In one incident on 9 May 2023, four Russian women attacked a Ukrainian woman for carrying the Ukrainian flag.
But let's move on to vatniks, and I'm sure you recognize this one: Scott Ritter has been extremely busy in his new favorite country, Russia. His book "Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika: Arms Control and the End of the Soviet Union" was recently published in...
8/21
..Russian by Moskovskaya Pravda, and naturally Scotty went to Russia to do a book tour. 5 May 2023, he told his audience in a bookstore in St. Petersburg that "There’s no way Russia should lose this war" and that...
9/21
..."If Russia wants to win this war, there is no reason why the war wouldn’t be over by late summer or early fall".
While Ritter was praising Russia and its mighty army in St. Petersburg, Gonzalo Lira was arrested by the SBU. There's wild rumors going around that his location was provided to the SBU by no other than our favorite "poor girl from Luhansk", Sarah "Donbass Devushka" Bils.
11/21
Some pro-Kremlin propagandists had warned Gonzalo about Bils, but apparently he didn't listen.
In other news, it appears that Russians are still enjoying NATO countries and European luxuries en masse - in my earlier soups I introduced Russia's Deputy Minister of Defense in Russia, Timur Ivanov, and his wife Svetlana.
13/21
Svetlana LOVES to party in Europe, and he was spotted having fun in Courchevel, France in early Apr 2023.
But she isn't the only one enjoying the luxurious European capitals. Boris Obnosov, a man who is responsible Russia's missile production, has sent his family to live in Prague, where they own a beautiful 140m2 penthouse.
15/21
In addition, they own several apartments around the city, and recently transferred their luxurious cars to Czech license plates. These people sure do seem to love NATO countries!
Here's a great thread on Boris Obnosov and his family:
Conspiracy theorist and Putin-enjoyer Michael Flynn has also been busy. As is tradition in the US, he's sued @jimstewartson for the claims that he's part of QAnon, and the DOJ, FBI and US government for malicious prosecution and abuse of process.
17/21
Previously, his brother sued CNN for 75 million USD over QAnon reports. BTW, Flynn is apparently still collecting a full military pension, paid for by the US citizens, and at the same time tours America with their The Great ReAwakening VS The Great Reset event.
On 29 Apr 2023, the Russians organized a hybrid event called "Global Conference on Multipolarity", a propaganda conference which is basically who's who of pro-Kremlin academics.
20/21
The event included speakers such as Sergei Lavrov, Sergei Glazyev, Konstantin Malofeyev, Pepe Escobar, Roger Köppel and Johan Bäckman.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Venezuelan bus driver, politician & dictator, Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro). He’s best-known for ruining Venezuela, turning it into a dictatorship, and for collaborating with other authoritarian regimes like Russia, Iran & Belarus.
1/22
His exact birthplace has been questioned, but most sources agree that Mr. Maduro was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Maduro was raised in a Catholic family, but at some point became a follower of Indian Hindu guru Sathya Sai Baba and even visited the guru in India back in 2005.
2/22
Nicolás’ introduction to leftist politics happened during the 80s, when he acted as an unofficial trade unionist and as bodyguard for José Vicente Rangel, who later worked as a foreign minister under Hugo Chávez. He also visited Havana, Cuba, where he “studied communism”,…
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an Estonian politician and propagandist, Aivo Peterson. He’s best-known for travelling to Donbas and Mariupol to produce pro-Kremlin propaganda, and for trying to create a pro-Russia separatist movement in Estonia.
1/16
Peterson is what I call a “decoy vatnik” - someone who’s so overtly pro-Kremlin that their activities draw a lot of attention (think Johan Bäckman in Finland), and the Putin bootlickers who work through business and politics can operate in peace.
2/16
Aivo hails from Ida-Viru, a region populated mostly by Russians. His father was Russian — his birthname was Krylov, but he later took his mother’s surname Peterson. Before becoming a full-time Kremlin propagandist, he worked as a border guard, masseur & real estate agent.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American radio host and propagandist, Scott Horton (@scotthortonshow). He’s best known for blaming Russia’s genocidal war against Ukraine on the US, and for publishing a 700-page book full of Kremlin propaganda.
1/23
Most of you probably remember Scotty from this recent episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, in which he was schooled for his revisionist propaganda by Ukrainian volunteer and activist Anastasiya Paraskevova (@UkrainianAna).
2/23
Let’s start with the obvious - Scott Horton is a hardcore Kremlin apologist who sees nothing wrong with what Putin does, but strongly condemns anything that Ukrainians do to defend themselves. For Horton,the enemy is the US and all of its allies. The way this works is that…
3/23
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the sad (but funny) state of Finnish vatniks. After Russia launched their full-scale invasion against Ukraine, the Finnish pro-Kremlin/conspiracy theorist scene experienced a dramatic devaluation and hasn’t been able to bounce back since.
1/20
I often get asked about the current state of the Finnish vatnik club, and there’s usually not much to report.
It’s not because these people have stopped, but because today their work has only comedic value.
So here’s the latest:
2/20
Master vatnik and traitor Johan Bäckman has relocated to Russia, and he was recently given a Russian citizenship. It’s obvious that Johan was recruited by Russia’s intelligence agencies a long time ago. He’s still producing videos on YouTube on his…