In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a Russian social media personality and vatnik archetype, Mr. G (@Wagnersfamily). He's best-known for sharing the most outrageous Kremlin lies, albeit previously being extremely anti-Putin and Kremlin, even coining the term "vatnik".
1/19
It's worth noting, that G is an extremely irrelevant account and person, but his almost comical descent from an anti-Putin, fully fledged Russian Liberal, to full blown vatnik, who doesn't hesitate to lie and naturally lives outside of Russia, is worth demonstrating.
2/19
In his liberal days G was dedicated to popularizing the vatnik meme. He ran the site together with his friend, and also the @trueVATNIK Twitter account, which went inactive in 2015, but was popular in circles opposed to Putin's imperialist ambitions.
G's online activities attracted criticism from the Russian authorities, and drew attention from a local news site in Omsk. He was described as a traitor, & in defending himself he somewhat ironically described the "Russian" mindset that he himself would later fall into.
4/19
A far cry from his current views, G once believed that Russia was an imperialist power that was illegally occupying its neighbors, & that Russia should be broken into 14 parts. These views brought him to the attention of nationalists & attracted the attention of the FSB.
5/19
After the FSB issued a notice for his arrest, he fled to Mexico, where despite claims to be in Siberia, he resides today. According to Russian news articles at the time, G supposedly adopted surname from his American wife, as opposed to his original, Russian one.
6/19
Once in Mexico, Mr. G took an illegal 3 month excursion into the US, calling the "three month adventure" an "unforgettable one". Only he can say why he wanted to visit the capital of western Satanism and LGBT degeneracy.
7/19
Mr. G even supposedly flew from Mexico to assist Maidan, making Molotovs and bringing tires to barricades. He was at one point in his life firmly in the pro-Ukrainian camp, and saw the Russian intervention in the Donbas for what it was - thinly veiled imperialism.
8/19
Sadly, since then, he has descended into the typical vatnik behaviour he once opposed. Without any sense of self irony, he now parrots the Kremlin party line about neo-Nazis in Ukraine, while unironically having become a white supremacist who rants about Zionists.
9/19
Ironically, G's past means that the original About page describing the character of Vatnik was likely written by G himself. So, let's take a moment to compare what is probably G's own description of a Vatnik with his own behavior to see how far he has fallen.
10/19
"Conservative traditionalist who loves Putin" ✅
G describes himself as a right wing conservative. He considers feminism the origin of "western degradation", even running an anti-feminist group on VK. He proudly declares he voted for Putin, describing him as a great man.
11/19
"Wants to revive the USSR. Hates the USA, Europe and Allies." ✅
G now wishes for the return of the USSR, expressing his sadness at how impossible it seems. He considers the US and allies satanic, being willing to accept nuclear war and the end of Russia to wipe them out.
12/19
"Terrible homophobe." ✅
G expresses his terrible homophobia in his tweets, considering a single pride parade to have caused the "fall" of Serbia, and celebrating the attitudes of the Kremlin towards LGBT.
13/19
"Prone to lies and violence, but actually very cowardly" ✅
G pretends that he's served in the Russian military, which is an outright lie. He's been hiding out in Mexico & considers himself banned from going home. He did reach level 3 as a Local Guide on Google, though!
14/19
"Believes in a conspiracy of the whole world against Russia" ✅
G believes that the US government is controlled by "Zionists" as some kind of satanic ring. He considers that Russia is currently trying to save the world from this "satanic evil".
15/19
"Dreams of a Leader who will rule Russia with a harsh hand" ✅
G considers Russia lucky to have a "strong leader" in Putin. He considers beating up liberals "not even assault", because allowing them to speak "threatens Russian independence and integrity".
16/19
"Lacks self irony. Hypocrite" ✅
G definitely lacks self irony having become the very archetype of the vatniks that he once mocked. His hypocrisy is on constant display as he rails against Russian liberals & those who've fled Russia, from the safety of his home in Mexico.
17/19
But I also have another theory - maybe Mr. G is afraid of his home country's intelligence agencies and tries to make amends by doing this over-the-top anti-Western persona? Either way, G's online antics have reached a comical level.
18/19
For this soup, I decided to do something I should do more - I asked G for a comment. Soon after I told him about the upcoming soup, there was talk on Z spaces that people are "looking for info on me". Maybe you wanted all this liberal stuff to stay a secret, @Wagnersfamily?
19/19
This soup was brewed in collaboration with the @UnintelAgency.
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.