In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a German right-wing and populist political party, Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD (@AfD). The party is best-known for their Euroskeptic and pro-Kremlin politics, and for having strong political and financial ties to the Kremlin.
1/19
The party was established in 2013, in the wake of the surge of many conservative, right-wing political parties around Europe. Throughout the years, the party has moved further to the far-right, and has taken stronger opposition against immigration, Islam and the EU.
2/19
AfD has become the most popular far-right political party in Germany since WW II. In a recent poll, the party was second strongest party with over 20% support. They've increase their support especially in the "adaptive-pragmatic" middle classes.
3/19
The party has also been connected to various ultranationalist, far-right organizations like the German PEGIDA and the Neue Rechte, and the Bulgarian Vazrazhdane (Revival). Some of their members have roots in the German neo-Nazi parties like the NPD.
4/19
The party has been labelled as a group of "Putin-Versteher" or Putin understanders, which is also pretty evident from their actions. They're actively contributing to Russian disinformation campaigns and propaganda, and they've criticized many of EU's actions against Russia.
5/19
In 2017, three AfD members received a sponsored flight on a private jet to Moscow. The members claimed that the trip was not "party business". In 2021, other three AfD members, including AfD co-chairwoman Alice Weidel, visited Moscow to "normalize" Russian-German relations.
6/19
In Mar 2019, then AfD co-leader Alexander Gauland gave an interview to Komsomolskaya Pravda, in which he called the conflict in Ukraine an "internal matter", and that the party is strongly against any economic sanctions against Russia.
7/19
In Sep 2022, five members of AfD were planning to visit the Russia-controlled region of Donbas, Ukraine. The trip was allegedly organized by Russia, but was eventually cancelled due to the harsh criticism and public outcry they received.
8/19
In Feb 2023, AfD member @SteffenKotre was guest at Solovyov's propaganda show, where he claimed that "ordinary Germans" don't want to send military aid to Russia, and it's only the mainstream media that's pushing this narrative so they could turn people against Russia.
9/19
The party head, Tino Chrupalla, has claimed that the US "provoked Russia" and is at least partly responsible for the war in Ukraine. He even used the Russian propaganda phrase "The Americans are fighting on Ukraine territory until the last Ukrainian is dead."
10/19
AfD was also heavily involved in organizing so-called antiwar demonstrations in Feb 2023. WaPo found out that this "antiwar coalition" was one the Kremlin's goals, after Putin had illegally annexed the four Ukrainian Oblasts in Sep 2022.
11/19
Russian political strategists were ordered by the Kremlin officials to build an antiwar sentiment in Germany in order to reduce the support for Ukraine with slogans like "Buy gas, not war" and "Ukraine wants war, Germany want peace".
12/19
The documents also revealed that several AfD members were in contact with Russian officials while these plans were being laid out.These rallies were organized throughout Germany,from a small town of Neustrelitz to Stuttgart & were strongly supported by Russia's fifth column.13/19
At these demonstrations, the leader of the Thuringian branch of the AfD, Björn Höcke, claimed that it was the US that ousted Yanukovych in 2014, that the conflict is a "civil war" against Eastern Ukrainians & that Russia merely wants to "free" these people from oppression.
14/19
One of Russia's lap dogs in AfD is Markus Frohnmaimer, who was specifically mentioned in a Russian document. "We will have our own absolutely controlled MP in the Bundestag," it declared, while referring to him. The document also requested for "material and media support".
15/19
One of AfD's MEPs, Maximillian Krah, is a popular face on China's Global Times, a propaganda outlet controlled by the CCP, and he's also often appeared on the Kremlin's mouthpiece, TASS. He's also strongly opposed the sanctions against Russia.
16/19
In Aug 2023, The Insider and Spiegel published a joint investigation on Russian Vladimir Sergienko, who had funneled money and instructions to AfD politicians on a constitutional complaint in Germany against its supplies of weapons to Ukraine:
And AfD's internal documents have confirmed all this: the party condemns the aid to Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia, and describes the US as a "global hegemony" and as an "alien power". In addition, the document calls for closer collaboration with China and Iran.
18/19
To conclude: AfD is a far-right populist party that's gaining a lot of traction and popularity in German politics. At the same time, they're acting on behalf of the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin, and often try to undermine any German humanitarian or military aid to Ukraine.
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…
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Romanian politician and conspiracy theorist, Călin Georgescu (@calin_georgescu). He’s best-known for his pro-Kremlin and conspiratorial views, running for president of Romania, and doing it by only campaigning on TikTok.
1/25
Georgescu has a doctorate in pedology (a branch of soil science), and held various positions in Romania’s environment ministry during the 90s.
Between 1999-2012, he was a representative for Romania on the national committee of the United Nations Environment Program.
2/25
He was proposed as Romania’s prime minister in 2011, 2012 and 2016 by Romanian far-right parties, but he rose to international infamy in 2024, when he ran for president of Romania independently and obtained the most votes (22,95%) out of all candidates in the first round.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Canadian journalist and alleged Soviet/Russian spy, David Pugliese (@davidpugliese). He’s best-known for his articles about “Ukrainian Nazis”, and for allegedly being a spy for both the Soviet Union and later Russia.
1/21
Several months ago I was anonymously sent a pile of documents from the mid-80s originating from the KGB archives in Kyiv. These documents outlined a KGB recruitment into “Stuart”, or David Pugliese who “works in foreign mass media” and who is…
2/21
..“studied with the perspective of possible operative use”. Another document described “Stuart’s” contact “Ivan”, who allegedly became his handler.Some have speculated that “Ivan” is Fred Weir, a correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor.He’s lived in Moscow since 1986.
3/21
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American far-right social media personality, Nicholas J. Fuentes (@NickJFuentes). He’s best-known for his white supremacist, misogynistic and antisemitic rhetoric, and for being the poster boy for the so-called incel movement.
1/17
Like so many from the white supremacist movement, Fuentes dropped out of university after his freshman year. He studied introductory international relations, which apparently made him a geopolitics expert. Nick was introduced to the white supremacist movement at an…
2/17
..early age - he took part in the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville,Virginia. In 2017, Fuentes launched his political talk show “America First”. Initially the show was aired on Trump-aligned Right Side Broadcasting Network, but it was dropped after the rally.
3/17
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss foreign malign influence operations during the 2024 US elections. As in 2016 and 2020, these recent elections were also a target of massive disinformation and hacking campaigns originating mostly from Russia and Iran.
1/17
First of all, my opinion is that these influence operations alone didn’t affect the elections so much, that they actually made a difference.
Unlike in 2016, Trump’s win over Harris was clear and these short-term campaigns didn’t really change that much this time.
2/17
Yet, many of these online campaigns attacked both Harris and Walz on various social media platforms. Especially Walz became a big target after his nomination, and many Russian efforts attempted to defame him.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a social media personality and TV presenter, Raisa Blommestijn (@rblommestijn). She’s best-known for her far-right rhetorics, spreading conspiracy theories, and spreading anti-Ukraine and pro-Kremlin narratives on Dutch television.
1/24
Raisa studied philosophy of law at Leiden University. The faculty is best-known for one of its professors, Paul Cliteur. He’s a member of the pro-Kremlin party Forum voor Democratie (FvD), where he is one of the leading figures.Cliteur is also known for supervising the FvD…
2/24
…founder Thierry Baudet’s doctoral thesis, and can be considered a central figure in this Dutch “anti-establishment” movement. While studying at Leiden, Raise also met her best friend forever, Eva Vlaardingerbroek: