In today's #vatniksoup, I'll iterate on the Kremlin's main narratives and how they're currently being used to legitimize Russia's sham election, protest military aid to Ukraine, and confuse people with "whataboutism" ("What about the US/Gaza/Iraq/Israel/Ukraine?").
1/15
Of course none of this is new, it's just that the scale is much more massive than we've ever seen before. Russia's "Firehose of Falsehood" strategy attempts to flood us with a huge volume of emotional and biased content to confuse us and distract us from the topic at hand.
2/15
I'll use few of my recent posts about the Russian sham elections as an example. In the second photo, you see the massive amount of comments compared to likes/shares of the post - a ratio of 1:4 is actually very rare and suggests that the post was found by trolls and bots.
3/15
This type of posts are also great for discovering the Kremlin troll factory talking points - there aren't that many and they often like to spread the same lies they've done since 2014. Let's take a look at some of them and also see why they're wrong.
4/15
Let's start with the most classic strategy called "whataboutism". It's not a new tactic,as it was already used by the Soviet propagandists to divert any criticism towards their country. "What about US invasion of Iraq" & "What about Gaza" are typical examples of whataboutism.5/15
Then there's the deflection tactic of referring to the cancelled elections in Ukraine. It's actually written in the Ukrainian Constitution that elections are not being held during war time, because voting in the middle of an invasion is close to impossible.
6/15
Now, let's compare Ukrainian presidents to Russian and Belarusian presidents since 2000 - Russia has had 2 (technically 1), and Belarus has had one. It's very easy to see which regimes have limited free speech and taken control over their societies.
7/15
Whenever you bring up the war crimes done by the Russians in Ukraine, Kremlin trolls can't stop talking about the "genocide in Donbas". According to the story, Ukraine "shelled Donbas for 8 years", killing civilians and children in the process.
8/15
This of course never happened, and even Prigozhin's employees admitted that the people interviewed were actually crisis actors. The unrest was funded by the Kremlin and mercenaries/FSB agents like Igor Girkin. Full debunk here:
Another classic is the "Ukrainian neo-Nazis" BS. Ukrainian far-right parties had 2,2% support in the 2019 elections. It's actually Russia that has a massive neo-Nazi problem, and their armies are actually infested with them:
Another narrative related to this is the "Azov uses civilians as human shields". Throughout the war, Russia has conducted war crimes against civilians, by for example shooting fleeing vehicles and ambulances. They have also targeted hospitals and rescue workers.
12/15
Then there's the "peaceniks", or accounts that are constantly calling for Ukraine to negotiate for peace, even though Putin himself said recently that "It would be ridiculous for us to start negotiating with Ukraine".
Debunk:
Expect to see a lot of similar posts in the near future, as they'll be used to attack any pro-Ukrainian stances on X. Also, there will be many more related to the US military aid to Ukraine and to support Donald Trump for the presidency.
14/15
It's worth noting, that before NAFO came along, all this was happening uncontested. Actually, these narratives still have very little resistance on social media sites like TikTok and Facebook. So, thanks NAFO!
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.