In today's #vatniksoup, I'll talk about @DD_Geopolitics, so-called useful idiots, and theorize on how DDG's founder Sarah Bils become one. Bils is best-known for setting up the pro-Kremlin Donbass Devushka network and later rebranding it as DD Geopolitics.
1/16
This investigation was conducted by The Unintelligence Agency (TUA).
If you missed the first soup on Donbass Devushka, I suggest reading it now to understand what's going on in this one:
As we've established before, Russian active measures often look for "useful idiots", or people who are willing to spread the Kremlin propaganda without them fully comprehending their goals:
These people are often motivated by money, ideology, compromising material or their ego; I'm not a psychologist, but in Bils' case I'd bet on both money and ego. Almost immediately after she started the Donbass Devushka network, she started grifting for money by selling...
4/16
...Z-merchandise and collecting donations for made-up causes and charities. Even her former colleague, @squatsons, seemed confused about the whole charity situation, and eventually admitted that he didn't know where the money went - probably to Bils' own pockets.
5/16
After the WSJ published their story on Bils, she claimed that TUA ruined her life. According to her, she had lost two jobs, two businesses & time with her child. She declared that this was due to people "doxxing" her. But Sarah ruined her life long before NAFO even existed.
6/16
According to court documents, she has a "long-term problem with drugs, alcohol or other substances". She sold her child's toys and was so addicted to being on her phone, that she neglected her child. The house was a mess and there were times she didn’t feed them.
7/16
She has a massive drinking problem, and she skipped deployments due to this. Once her ex-husband found her passed out on the floor while she was supposed to watch over their kid. She was sent home from deployment for being drunk. She often drank in the presence of her child.
8/16
According to her ex, she wanted to waive her rights as a parent since she can't afford child support. She was also constantly cheating on him, as testified by her kid. After he filed for divorce, she invited her brother and her mom to live with them.
9/16
And about that doxxing: Bils has no trouble spreading other people's personal information and calling for her fans to brigade against them.
She considers TUA and WSJ exposing her lies a "doxx" and constantly lies about the extent of these revelations.
10/16
You absolutely can't trust anything Bils says, and she's claimed to be Jewish, Russian, Ukrainian, Italian, Slovenian and Latvian. She's also lied about her education, academic background (there isn't any), and about... well, everything.
She's from New Jersey.
11/16
You may ask, "why all these gossip-y details? Why do they even matter?" Well, these are the type of people Russian intelligence targets. Problematic figures who are looking for a some kind of external factor to solve all of their problems, usually related to money.
12/16
Now, we know that Bils has around 63 000 USD in loans and she's willing to do anything to keep up with her lifestyle - even sell her child's toys and try to steal Vicodin. I'm sure even Dmitry Polyanskiy (@Dpol_un) agrees that Bils would be a perfect asset for the Kremlin.
13/16
DDG is still actively collecting "donations", and all money goes to Sarah's private account. The network was started in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but has since switched their focus to the next trendy thing, the Israel-Palestine conflict.
14/16
Bils/DDG have been accepted to Russia's "inner circles", and they are now invited to participate in silly events like the "Crisis of Freedom of Speech". They've also tweeted statements from Hezbollah and invited guests from Iranian state-controlled propaganda channels.
15/16
This will conclude our long series on Donbass Devushka/DD Geopolitics/Sarah Bils. By now, DDG has become a rather minor actor when it comes pro-Kremlin fake news & propaganda, and it's time to focus on actors and organizations that have actual impact on the information war.
16/16
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American radio host and propagandist, Scott Horton (@scotthortonshow). He’s best known for blaming Russia’s genocidal war against Ukraine on the US, and for publishing a 700-page book full of Kremlin propaganda.
1/23
Most of you probably remember Scotty from this recent episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, in which he was schooled for his revisionist propaganda by Ukrainian volunteer and activist Anastasiya Paraskevova (@UkrainianAna).
2/23
Let’s start with the obvious - Scott Horton is a hardcore Kremlin apologist who sees nothing wrong with what Putin does, but strongly condemns anything that Ukrainians do to defend themselves. For Horton,the enemy is the US and all of its allies. The way this works is that…
3/23
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.