In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Belarusian politician and dictator, Alexander Lukashenko. He’s best-known for giving up his country to Russia, and for cracking up political opposition and dissidents in Belarus, ruling the country with an iron fist.
1/19
Alexander was born in the Byelorussian SSR, living an unhappy childhood with his mother, taunted by his schoolmates due to being fatherless. His father’s identity is not known, but there’s a rumour that his father was a Roma traveler passing through the region.
2/19
Lukashenko joined the Soviet Communist Party in 1979, and a few years later he became the deputy chairman of a collective farm. By 1990, he had risen to the rank of Deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR. He claimed to be an opponent of corruption…
3/19
…and in 1993 he accused 70 senior government officials of corruption, including stealing state funds for personal purposes. Apparently these accusations had no merit, but some high-ranking officials resigned nevertheless due to the embarrassment.
4/19
After the fall of the USSR, Belarus held its first democratic presidential election in 1994. Naturally, Lukashenko ran in the most populist way, claiming to be “neither leftist nor rightist” but “with the people against those who rob and deceive them”.
5/19
Soon after this, Lukashenko started the Russification process of Belarus. He held a referendum that enabled economic integration with Russia and gave him the power to dissolve the parliament. OSCE stated that the referendum didn’t meet the conditions of being free or fair.
6/19
Lukashenko was re-elected in 2001 in the first round in an election that was widely considered yet again not free or fair. Putin supported the Belarusian dictator, but for that Lukashenko had to give up control over their section of the Yamal–Europe gas pipeline.
7/19
In 2004, Lukashenko eliminated presidential term limits, making himself eligible for a lifetime of presidency & he was re-elected again in 2006. This resulted in massive protests, after which he stated that the opposition is “funded by foreign countries,” and is “not needed”.8/19
During early 2000s, Lukashenko allied with other authoritarian regimes, including Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and president Ahmadinejad. He also suggested to Yugoslav President Milošević that Yugoslavia join the Union of Russia & Belarus.
9/19
During the 2010 election, Lukashenko started cracking down on his opposition, as two other presidential candidates were beaten up and at least seven other candidates were arrested. In Dec 2010, several European foreign ministers published an op-ed criticizing Lukashenko.
10/19
In 2020, after being re-elected for his sixth term, massive protests erupted across Belarus. The protesters accused Lukashenko of widespread electoral fraud, and opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya claimed she had received 60-70% of the total vote.
11/19
Like Yanukovych, Lukashenko was also planning on escaping to Russia if he’d become a “former president”. In Aug 2020, the European Parliament declared Lukashenko “persona non grata” in the EU and claimed that he’s not the president anymore. Lukashenko later took revenge …
12/19
… vowing to “flood” Europe with “drugs and migrants”. Soon after this, Belarusian tourist agencies started advertising in the Middle East, promoting a hassle-free entry to the EU and its countries with good social welfare system, doubling flights from Baghdad to Minsk.
13/19
After the election, Alexander became extremely paranoid, walking everywhere wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a gun. In 2021, FSB claimed that there was a plot by the “Ukrainian nationalists” to launch a military coup and assassination attempt against Lukashenko.
14/19
To protect his friends, Lukashenko formed a Security Council consisting of his close allies. He then signed a presidential decree, saying that in the event that the president is unable to perform his duties, martial law will be imposed and the Council will take over.
15/19
Throughout his career, thousands of people in Belarus have become victims of torture, sexual abuse, and other forms of repression. Several opposition figures have also simply disappeared,and the Belarusian secret service have even plotted on assassinating dissidents abroad.
16/19
Lukashenko managed to turn Belarus into a pro-Kremlin dictatorship by completely destroying the opposition, replacing officials and politicians with his friends, and changing the constitution so that he can stay in power indefinitely.
17/19
The story of Lukashenko’s rise to power is an important one, as it is something that could happen in many other countries that are now considered democratic.
18/19
We’ve already seen how Viktor Orban has taken over Hungary using similar strategies as Lukashenko previously did, and a similar faith was planned for Ukraine, too:
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.