In today's Holiday #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American social media personality and fifth columnist, @Zagonel85. He's best-known for his strong anti-Ukraine rhetoric, and hosting Spaces on X featuring prominent vatniks like convicted sex offender Scott Ritter.
1/18
This investigation was done in collaboration with @UnintelAgency.
Looking at the description, you can clearly see that he's just your typical social media vatnik, spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda.
What you probably didn't know is that he's also a Tolstoy.
2/18
Let's start with the rather interesting bit - Mr. Tolstoy is, as a matter of fact, the great grandnephew of author Leo Tolstoy, and son of the late Count Vladimir Tolstoy. Vladimir was influential figure in Russian emigree circles in Washington DC until his death in 2020.
3/18
Count Tolstoy helped with the development of the St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral, and organized the Annual Russian Ball popular in the "White Russian" (exiled Tsarists) community.
The Tsarist community are by and large not fans of Communists or Putin's fascist regime.
4/18
Tolstoy even worked briefly an Office Manager at the Cathedral where his father was Sub-Deacon, a job his father no doubt got for him.
Incidentally, the Cathedral is currently collecting donations for Ukraine.
5/18
Tolstoy really doesn’t like the "decadent West" and its values, often complaining about LGBT+ issues and calling Ukraine’s supporters "f**gots" when the identity of @vonClownsewitz was revealed.
Incidentally, Tolstoy's brother regularly attends Pride parades.
6/18
For obvious reasons, Tolstoy has been extremely hostile against many published investigations conducted by @UnintelAgency and yours truly, saying that there's "a cold place in hell" for us. In his case, he probably wants to protect the family name.
7/18
It probably goes without saying, but Tolstoy is very anti-Ukraine. Interestingly, his views contrast with public statements made by The Russian Ball of Washington.
But we all should be entitled for our own opinion, even when it has no basis in reality.
8/18
He's claimed that "there's zero evidence of Russian genocide [in Ukraine]", and that Bucha was fabricated by the SBU. According to him, the shoot down of MH17 was "propaganda", and that Euromaidan and the following Revolution of Dignity were an "illegal coup".
9/18
He's also supported various false claims, including the one where Zelenskyy allegedly bought a 5 million USD villa in Egypt. Then there are the "Ukrainian Nazis" - according to Tolstoy, Ukraine is simply full of them!
10/18
In addition, he's called the January 6 Capitol Attack a "democrat BlueAnon conspiracy theory", said that "white supremacist militias aren't real", and that the West is constantly attempting to "provoke Russia". He also thinks Zelenskyy is a drug addict.
11/18
According to Tolstoy, Ukrainian soldiers are "holed up" in civilian buildings, and that this strategy was actually recommended to the Ukrainians by NATO. Apparently, the Russians can do no harm and have not targeted any civilian targets in Ukraine, Syria or Chechnya.
12/18
As is the case with many of these extremely hostile accounts, there's an infinite amount of examples like this. In addition, he's made fun of Ukrainian PoW's, compared Hamas with Zelenskyy, and used plenty of ethnic slurs against Ukrainians.
13/18
Tolstoy's also commented on conflict in the Middle East, calling Oct 7 terrorist attack a "military action against Israel". He's also called Israel a "Russian cuck".
14/18
There have been some hints about Tolstoy's connections to Russian power figures: he once even claimed to have met Putin himself, continuing that he has "extensive Russian connections". These family connections have been to Tolstoy's personal advantage,...
15/18
...although given he lived with his mother until recently, it doesn't seem he took advantage of them. His employment history contains a series of internships followed by an attempt at launching an app. These days, he averages ~17 hours on social media.
16/18
Most of this time is spent on X's Spaces, where he hangs out with like-minded people like the decadent Westerner and sexual deviant Scott Ritter, X's biggest liar @ShaykhSulaiman, neo-Nazi Richard Spencer, and Malaysian US expert and RT columnist @stillgray.
17/18
To conclude: Tolstoy is a great example of a "kid" (to be fair he's almost 40) who tries too hard to distance themselves from their parents and their heritage, and hangs out with fellow communists like @vonClownsewitz.
Ironically, he's also a Lockheed Martin share owner.
18/18
I have paused personal donations for now, please support @U24_gov_ua by donating to the #HopakChallenge and sending me the receipt:
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: