In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a French politician and member of the European Parliament, Thierry Mariani (@ThierryMARIANI). He's best-known for his pro-Kremlin politics and antics on social media, and for promoting business with authoritarian regimes.
1/23
Mariani has been serving as a French MEP since 2019. He previously served as Minister in charge of Transport in 2010-2012. He ran for the European Parliament from Marine Le Pen's National Rally party.
Thierry's married to Irina Chaikhoullina, a native of Yekaterinburg.
2/23
According to gossip-y Livejournal blog post from 2015, they met in 2005, fell in love and got married in 2006 after Thierry got rid of his then-wife and children.
3/23
In Jul 2015, Mariani, together with Russian officials, paid a visit to the illegally annexed Crimea. While there, he praised the Crimean parliament for their "courage" to "make this decision despite the difficult situation and the great danger of further escalation."
4/23
In 2020, he acted as an "international expert" at the 2020 All-Russian voting in Crimea.
He also claimed that there are no reasons for Europe to "maintain its sanctions against Russia." Thierry's 2015 trip was denounced by the French Foreign Ministry, calling it...
5/23
..."a violation of international law." The trip was organized via Franco-Russian Dialogue Association.
Thierry has been aggressively speaking against the sanctions ever since, even so that one might think if he has financial interests with the Kremlin.
6/23
In 2016, he brought non-binding resolutions to the National Assembly and Senate calling on the EU to lift the sanctions against Russia. The resolution had only symbolic value, but it was a clear statement for his pro-Kremlin stance.
7/23
In Nov 2018, Mariani traveled to the fake republic of DNR, where he met, among other people,with the fake Foreign Minister Natalya Nikonorova. He's been a big proponent of the "genocide in Donbas" narrative, claiming that Ukraine has been "bombing civilian homes since 2014."
8/23
He also acted as an individual observer at the 2018 fake general elections in DNR. He's visited Russia as an election observer. These trips were paid for by the EU.
Ironically, Thierry joined the board of governors of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) in 2020.
9/23
The mission of this organization is to "to promote the values of freedom and democracy in the European Neighbourhood and beyond." The organization has supported news outlets like The Kyiv Independent. His stint didn't last long,though, as he resigned after just few months.
10/23
Like so many before him, Thierry has been blaming Ukraine for breaking the Minsk agreements, a contract that has not been respected by either Ukraine or Russia since it was signed. Incidentally, he doesn't mention the previous Budapest Memorandum from 1994 anywhere.
11/23
He mocked the US intelligence for announcing Russia's invasion in Ukraine before it started, and on 23 Feb 2022, he stated that the reports of Putin's push for Kyiv are "ludicrous".
12/23
In his recent speech in the European Parliament, Mariani defended the abductions of Ukrainian conducted by the Russians, stating that the "evacuation" of these children from conflict zones is being propagandized in the West.
13/23
This disgusting take supports Russia's push to desperately try and fix its failing demographics by kidnapping Ukrainian youth - so far almost 20 000 abductions of Ukrainian children have been confirmed.
14/23
Thierry is a staunch critic of Zelensky, blaming him for trying to "drag the EU into a war that is not ours." He's also blamed Poland & the Baltics for "supporting a more active participation" in the war,suggesting that these countries only want to "settle some old scores".
15/23
He's called events like the bombing of the Kerch bridge an escalation, but at this point one can ask escalation into what? Russia is already bombing civilian targets almost on a daily basis. Its troops are raping, pillaging and torturing civilians around Ukraine.
16/23
Mariani has also been featured several times on TASS, where he usually bashes anything coming from the West. In one of his interviews he declared that the European capitals are "far too scared to displease Washington or get blackmailed by Ukrainian President...
17/23
...Vladimir Zelensky," and that Poland is trying to drag EU deeper into the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Mariani's actions and talks make you almost think, that he has some business interests in Russia. As a matter of fact, him and Yves Pozzo di Borgo have been under...
18/23
...investigation for Russia-related corruption since 2021. Their trips were paid for by Russia, and the French courts are determining whether these trips were rewards for the loyalty to the Russian Federation. They also investigate misuse of the organization's funds.
19/23
Russia isn't the only country that Mariani has been simping - he's a member of the Azerbaijan's Friends Association, a main tool of the "caviar diplomacy", a lobbying strategy of Azerbaijan involving lavish gifts and free tips.
20/23
Since the trips, Mariani has shown strong support for Ilham Aliyev, the authoritarian President of Azerbaijan, even having personal relations with him and his family. He's also the chairman of an NGO L'Eurasie, les nouveaux horizons, that's connected to several...
21/23
... figures involved in lobbying and money laundering of almost three billions dollars through shell companies located in the UK. This money was used to whitewash Azerbaijan's reputation in Europe.
22/23
Oh, and he never speaks about the events that took place in Bucha, Izium, Kherson or Kramatorsk. We can safely assume, that in his mind these atrocities never took place.
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.