In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a Russian propagandist and blogger, Nina "Nina Byzantina" Kouprianova (@NinaByzantina). She's best-known for her full support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, for marrying neo-Nazis, and for translating fascist philosophers.
1/20
Kouprianova was born in Moscow in the late 80s, when the collapse of the USSR was just around the corner. She's blamed Jeffrey Sachs, Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton for ruining Russia in the 90s,neatly forgetting the involvement of oligarchs & various criminal organizations.
2/20
Nina met Richard Spencer, an American neo-Nazi, conspiracy theorist and general clown, back in 2009. He outright refuses to talk about Richard's tendencies to drift towards far-right policies. Richard was already at this point at the deep end - he was fired from...
3/20
...the American Conservative for being "a bit extreme" for the magazine. She finally married Spencer in Niagara Falls in 2010, and their fairy tale lasted until around 2016, when Spencer announced their separation in a Washington Post article.
4/20
Being married to a literal neo-Nazi for several years, Kouprianova refuses to put any labels on herself. She's said that she's "sympathetic" toward movements that "challenge the dominant and globally oriented post-Liberal ideology," probably meaning something...
5/20
...along the lines of "Fuck the US".
She later compared his ex-husband's treatment to Stalinist purges in the USSR in an article she wrote for the local newspaper. After their separation, she accused Spencer of physical abuse.
6/20
In order to distance herself from any far-right affiliations, Kouprianova has translated the works of a political philosopher Alexander Dugin, who's best known for his neo-fascist worldview and for his geopolitics, where eastern Ukraine is considered to "Novorossiya",...
7/20
...an essential part of the Russian empire. On her webpage, Nina lists Dugin's books as only book translations she's ever done. Dugin is a central figure in Russian imperialism, and his 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics has been considered to be a "blueprint" of Russian..
8/20
...invasions in the 21st century. Dugin also started networking with American neo-Nazi groups around 2015, while Kouprianova and Spencer were still unhappily married. He hosted an online lecture at the founding of the neo-Nazi group, US Traditionalist Worker Party.
9/20
During the same year, he gave a speech titled "American Liberalism Must Be Destroyed" at an event organized by another neo-Nazi, Preston Wiginton. Wiginton is best-known for winning the "Strongest Skinhead" contest at a skinhead festival called Hammerfest in 2005.
10/20
According to Kouprianova, Putin has chosen the path of "healthy debate", papering over the killings or locking up of journalists and all of political opposition. Since 2014, she's called the conflict in Eastern Ukraine a "genocide" conducted by the Ukrainians.
11/20
To Nina, Russia's invasion has always been a "liberation war", while quoting things like "There are no separate Russia or Ukraine, but one Holy Rus." As is tradition, she's called the 2014 Revolution of Dignity a "Washington- and Brussels-backed regime change"...
12/20
...and "bloody coup d’état", completely disregarding the huge Russian influence in the process.
She's called the Russian interference in 2016 US election a "hysterical narrative".
13/20
Kouprianova has spread various conspiracy theories related to the Ukrainian Army, including organ trading and of course the "Ukrainian Nazis" (the "wrong kind" of Nazis, I guess). It's time to ask this question again: If the reason for the war in Ukraine was to...
14/20
.."denazify" it,why did Putin trade all the Azov Brigade leaders to Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk? Wasn't the whole idea of the war to get rid (and possibly execute) the "evil Nazi Banderites"? Is this just some kind of 4-D chess that only Putin and Trump understands?15/20
She also has lots of love for PMC Wagner, the mercenary company best-known for demolishing Bakhmut, but also recognized for the rapes and mass murder they've conducted in the African states. Apparently, putting them on list of terrorists is a sign of their "success".
16/20
As a propagandist, "Nina Byzantina" is subpar - her YouTube videos garner only hundreds of views (she has less subscribers than me, and I have published 0 videos), her TG channel has less than 100 followers, and her Twitter posts have quite low engagement.
17/20
She's often basing her arguments on history ("Russian and Ukrainian people are one"),naturally cherry-picking the events that fit to her (and Kremlin's) narrative. She's decorating & romanticizing it all with "Russian traditionalism",meaning family values and all that jazz.
18/20
With all this hype around Russia, I only assume that Nina has moved back to Moscow, now that she's separated from Richard Spencer and allegedly has no longer reason to remain in the United States, the country she seems to...
19/20
...so much despise. As she's constantly praising Putin and her motherland, you'd assume that she had gone back to Moscow already.
It's time for a little dessert: a little bird on Twitter told me that while living in Toronto, Nina was already deeply connected to the far-right movement. Apparently she dated a skinhead & enjoyed going to satanic metal concerts, being the religious person she is.
Hey Richard!
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In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explain the Alaska Fiasco and how it marks the peak of Trump’s two-year betrayal of Ukraine. What was sold as “peace talks” turned into a spectacle of weakness, humiliation, empty promises, and photo-ops that handed Putin exactly what he wanted.
1/24
Let’s start with the obvious: Trump desperately wants the gold medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, mainly because Obama got one. That’s why he’s now LARPing as a “peace maker” in every conflict: Israel-Gaza, Azerbaijan-Armenia, India-Pakistan, and of course Ukraine-Russia.
2/24
Another theory is that Putin holds kompromat — compromising material such as videos or documents — that would put Trump in an extremely bad light. Some have suggested it could be tied to the Epstein files or Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about engagement farming: a cynical social media tactic to rack up likes, shares, and comments. From rage farming to AI-powered outrage factories, engagement farming is reshaping online discourse and turning division into profit.
1/23
Engagement farming is a social media tactic aimed at getting maximum likes, shares, and comments, with truth being optional. It thrives on provocative texts, images, or videos designed to spark strong reactions, boost reach, and turn online outrage into clicks and cash.
2/23
One subset of engagement farming is rage farming: a tactic built to provoke strong negative emotions through outrageous or inflammatory claims. By triggering anger or moral outrage, these posts often generate 100s or even 1,000s of heated comments, amplifying their reach.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the autocratic concept of “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars”: the idea that the leader is wise and just, but constantly sabotaged by corrupt advisors. This narrative shields the ruler from blame, and it’s used by both Putin and Trump today.
1/20
The phrase “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars” (Царь хороший, бояре плохие), also known as Naïve Monarchism, refers to a long-standing idea in Russian political culture: the ruler is good and benevolent, but his advisors are corrupt, incompetent and responsible for all failures.
2/20
From this perception, any positive action taken by the government is viewed as being an accomplishment of the benevolent leader, whereas any negative one is viewed as being caused by lower-level bureaucrats or “boyars”, without the approval of the leader.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian politician and First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia, Sergey Kiriyenko. He’s best known for running both domestic and foreign disinformation and propaganda operations for the Kremlin.
1/20
On paper, and in photos, Kiriyenko is just as boring as most of the Kremlin’s “political technologists”: between 2005-2016 he headed the Rosatom nuclear energy company, but later played a leading role in the governance of Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine.
2/20
What is a political technologist? In Russia, they’re spin doctors & propaganda architects who shape opinion, control narratives, and manage elections — often by faking opposition, staging events, and spreading disinfo to maintain Putin’s power and the illusion of democracy.
Let me show you how a Pakistani (or Indian, they're usually the same) AI slop farm/scam operates. The account @designbonsay is a prime example: a relatively attractive, AI-generated profile picture and a ChatGPT-style profile description are the first red flags.
1/5
The profile's posts are just generic engagement farming, usually using AI-generated photos of celebrities or relatively attractive women.
These posts are often emotionally loaded and ask the user to interact with them ("like and share if you agree!").
2/5
Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American lawyer and politician, Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee). He’s best-known for opposing the aid to Ukraine, undermining NATO by calling the US to withdraw from the alliance, and for fighting with a bunch of braindead dogs online.
1/21
Like many of the most vile vatniks out there, “Based Mike” is a lawyer by profession. He hails from the holy land of Mormons, Utah, where he faces little political competition, allowing him to make the most outrageous claims online without risking his Senate seat.
2/21
Before becoming a senator, Mike fought to let a nuclear waste company dump Italian radioactive waste in Utah, arguing it was fine if they just diluted it. The state said no, the public revolted, and the courts told poor Mikey to sit down.