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 #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American conspiracy theorist, lawyer and politician, Robert Kennedy Jr. (@RobertKennedyJr). He's best-known for being the nephew of JFK, and for constantly promoting conspiratorial and false information.
1/25
Robert comes from the prestigious Kennedy family, and his father was the senator and attorney general Robert F. Kennedy. He was just 9-years-old when his uncle, JFK, was assassinated. Five years later, his father was also murdered.
2/25
During the early 80s, Robert had to resign as the Assistant District Attorney for Manhattan after failing his bar exam. A year later he was charged with heroin possession, and went into rehab. He soon became active in the environmental justice, and started lobbying and...
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
In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a Danish "citizen journalist" and propagandist, Jesper Larsen (@JesperL01). He's best-known for his pro-Russian fake news blog, ipressen, and for his battle against East StratCom and @EUvsDisinfo.
1/22
Jesper's main target has been an organization called East StratCom, which he calls a "system of censorship". He states that in addition to "political funding", East Stratcom also has external funding coming from George Soros and intelligence services.
2/22
What East StratCom actually does is a lot of research on information operations and disinformation, so defaming it is naturally a high priority for any pro-Kremlin propagandist. The most famous project of East StratCom is the debunking website, EU vs. Disinfo.
In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American political analyst and media executive, Steve Bannon.
He's best-known for being Trump's chief strategist, "flooding the zone with shit", and for attempting to unite far-right, pro-Putin political parties around Europe.
1/23
Bannon worked as an officer in the US Navy in the late 70s and early 80s, after which he worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. He's also produced several Hollywood movies between 1991 and 2016. In 1980,Bannon was deployed to assist with the Operation Eagle Claw...
2/23
.., a failed effort to save 52 embassy staff members from Tehran ordered by Jimmy Carter. In a 2015 interview, Steve stated that this marked a turning point in his political stance, turning him into a "Reaganite". This ideology of a battle between "good and evil" can be...
...in the Russian Embassy in 2013, Farage started appearing on the Kremlin-controlled RT, where he was allegedly paid 2000 £ per appearance. RT also supported and cultivated UKIP from at least 2011. Nigel himself said that the claims that he accepted more than half a...
21/24
...million pounds from RT as "nonsense", stating that he had only "two small appearance fees". He also denied meeting with Mr. Yakovenko (in the photo with Farage below) in a 2018 segment on LBC.
22/24
I'm sure you can already guess who Nigel blames for the "situation" in Ukraine? Of course it's the EU and NATO who aggressively have expanded towards the always-peaceful Russia, thus threatening the peaceful Russian people with... something.
In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a British politician and TV presenter, Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage ). He's best-known for his prominent role in the Brexit campaign, and for his bootlicking of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
1/24
Farage joined the Conservative party at the age of 14. From early on, euroscepticism was at the core of his politics and he voted for the Green Party in 1989 due to their "sensible" policies towards the EU. He left the Conservative party in 1992 in protest to the signing...
2/24
...of the Treaty on European Union, which forms the basis of the EU law. In 1993, Farage was a founding member of the Eurosceptic, right-wing populist UK Independence Party (UKIP). He was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 1999, and was re-elected in...