In today's #vatniksoup I'll introduce a Bosnian social media personality and nurse, @200_zoka aka Lazo Z. He's best-known for his conspiratorial analysis on the war in Syria, and for his pro-Russian takes on the Russo-Ukrainian War.
This soup was a NAFO collaboration.
1/20
.@200_zoka belongs to the "big three" of pro-Russian Twitter analysts/political commentators, the other two being a German tanker bridge attendant @trollstoy88 aka Richard Z, and Austrian IT support guy, @GeromanAT.
The former was introduced here:
But this "zuppa del giorno" is just as much about Lazo's catfishing personality as it is about him. For a long time, Lazo used pictures of an young and attractive Russian girl as his profile picture and in his tweets. This strategy of using attractive yet fake images to...
3/20
...attract online audiences is called catfishing, and it's been used online since the birth of the Internet. Recent developments in filters and deep fakes has made it easier for people to catfish for donations and attention online.
4/20
One better-known example if this kind of activity was the 50-year-old Japanese biker dude, who used these filters to make him appear as a young, attractive girl.
5/20
Lazo's fake persona was a Russian powerlifter and propaganda figure called Maryana Naumova. She's been Russia's propaganda sweetheart since 2015, and you might remember her from sending a video greeting to @Schwarzenegger after he appealed Russia to stop their illegal war.
6/20
At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Naumova was traveling around invaded areas in Ukraine, producing propaganda for the Russian masses. She's since participated in actual war activities, too. Naumova is member of Russia's communist party and a Stalin fan girl.
7/20
In addition to idolizing Stalin, Maryana has shown her support for war criminals like Slobodan Milosevich, Bashar al-Assad, and Kim Jong Un. As a cherry on top, she's appeared on various occasions together with Russian neo-Nazi and Rusich leader, Aleksei Milchakov.
8/20
It is not known if Ms. Naumova was aware of this questionable honor.Anyway, let's go back to Lazo: his expertise on war comes from his relatively long career in working as a nurse near the Bosnian town of Mostar (even though his Twitter profile says he's in Baranda, Serbia).
9/20
Soon after reaching the ripe age of 18, he started simping online for Syria's al-Assad and Putin, and their war effort in Syria. He painted the NGO group White Helmets, who were responsible in aiding civilians in war zones, as terrorists and paid actors.
10/20
The White Helmets were deliberately targeted by the Russian and al-Assad's troops in so-called "double tap" attacks, and they've been targeted aggressively by pro-Russian and pro-al-Assad propagandists like @VanessaBeeley.
11/20
Zoka's also denied the use of chemical weapons against civilians by the al-Assad regime - a fact that has been confirmed by several reports by the OPCW.
12/20
His account started growing quickly after Russia launched their full-scale invasion Ukraine in Feb 2022. Most of his posts are videos from the front lines, usually coming from a Russian perspective.
13/20
Like @trollstoy88, Lazo posts a lot of photos of (and probably dreams about) Russian women visiting or working in the front lines.
In one particularly disgusting incident, he posted a photo of a Ukrainian girl, stating that she's "Russian".
14/20
His allegiance to the Kremlin is obvious from his posts, and he for example celebrated Wagner's capture of Bakhmut, a demolished city with only symbolic value.
Like Naumova, Lazo also seems to be simping the Russian neo-Nazi Milchakov:
Lazo seems to be a Wagner fanboy, and he was part of the group that was skeptical about Prigozhin's mutiny against Putin, stating that he'd "never threatened Putin".He's also urged Putin to buy the new Shahed 149, the Iranian drone used to attack civilian targets in Ukraine.16/20
He's also spread a lie about Ukraine requesting blood from NATO, claiming that the blood (that was never requested) was infected with HIV and hepatitis B & C. His claims were later fact-checked, which made Lazo a happy man - he even asked for more articles that mention him.
17/20
After Shiite militia abducted Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, Zoka made fun of her situation, hinting that she might have been raped by her captors. He's also celebrated the death of US marines, only hoping there would've been more casualties.
18/20
Lazo is a controversial figure - he spreads disinformation benefiting Russia' genocidal war, but at the same time his a thirsty young man and momma's boy who spends a lot of time with his parents. But this doesn't make his message any less damaging, as with...
19/20
... over 175 000 followers he has a huge reach on Twitter. I actually have a hunch that these rather radical ideas and support of totalitarian regimes might come from his father, who celebrated al-Assad's birthday together with Lazo.
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.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American national security policy professional and the current under secretary of defense for policy, Elbridge Colby (@ElbridgeColby). He’s best-known for fighting with cartoon dogs online and for halting military aid to Ukraine.
1/21
Elbridge "Cheese" Colby earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Before entering government, he worked at top think tanks and in the intelligence community, focusing on nuclear policy and strategic planning.
2/21
Cheese quickly became a key voice for a “China First” strategy, arguing the US must prioritize military buildup in Asia over commitments in Europe or the Middle East. He sees (or saw, rather) Taiwan as the core test of US credibility.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’m going to talk about… Vatnik Soup! As some of you know, we also have a website where you can find every soup ever published. The site also has other useful resources, making it the most comprehensive resource on Russian disinformation & vatniks.
1/15
Unfortunately, Elon has flagged the website as malware, as he might not be very happy about the soups I wrote about him - so far, they have garnered over 60 million views on X/Twitter.
The “freedom of speech” spokesperson doesn’t seem too keen on free speech, after all.
2/15
The heart & soul of the website is of course the soups page. There you can find all 360+ soups, which can be sorted chronologically, by popularity, etc. You can also search for soups by title or even in the soup text: