Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
Mar 5 16 tweets 7 min read Read on X
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll discuss the Russian shadow fleet: a network of ships that operate in secret, dodge sanctions, smuggle oil, and undermine the security of Europe’s seas while keeping Putin’s war machine running.

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To understand the shadow fleet, let’s rewind to 2022. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the West responded with economic shockwaves. Sanctions were imposed, Russian oil was banned, and a price cap was introduced. For Russia, this was a disaster.

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But Putin is well-familiar with economic warfare. Russia quickly created a “shadow fleet” – an armada of rusting oil tankers with false identities and forged paperwork,and illegal trade routes designed to dodge Western sanctions and keep the rubles flowing.

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These ships are registered under shady “flags of convenience” from countries like Panama, Liberia, or even completely fabricated registries. Ownership is hidden behind endless layers of shell companies. If a ship gets caught, good luck figuring out who actually owns it.

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The moment these ships enter sensitive waters (like the Baltic Sea), they switch off their AIS transponders, going “dark” on satellite tracking. This allows them to slip past authorities unnoticed, only to reappear days later in a friendly port.

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Instead of docking at a major port where they can be tracked, Russian oil tankers sometimes transfer their cargo in international waters, much like drug smugglers. By the time the oil reaches its final buyer, its origins have been scrubbed clean.

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The scale of this operation is staggering. Some estimates suggest that Russia has over 600 ships in their fleet, many of which should’ve been scrapped years ago. This naval black market keeps billions flowing into Russia’s economy, directly funding the war on Ukraine.

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Russia has a long history of using civilian ships for intelligence gathering. Some of these tankers may not even be carrying oil – they could be mapping undersea cables, tracking NATO maneuvers, or scouting critical infrastructure for future sabotage.

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Another rusting Russian tanker with 100,000 tons of sanctioned oil recently faced a power outage in the Baltic Sea and had to be towed to the coast by Germany. It *would* be embarrassing – if Russia was familiar at all with that feeling.

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In Feb 2025, the oil tanker Koala suffered explosions in its engine room while docked in Ust-Luga, Russia. The vessel was carrying 130,000 tons of fuel oil, but according to Russian officials, no spills were detected.

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Incidents like this happen all the time, and the shadow fleet is an ecological catastrophe waiting to happen. But Russia can always shift the blame on others – for example, Koala was sailing under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.

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On a more optimistic note, many Western allies see the threat and are countering it. In January, the Joint Expeditionary Force launched an artificial intelligence-based reaction system for monitoring the threats that the shadow fleet poses for underwater cables.

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In addition, Baltic NATO members have increased naval patrols to monitor suspicious ship movements. The alliance is also reinforcing undersea infrastructure security, ensuring that Russia cannot use the cover of these vessels to sabotage critical infrastructure.

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For the Baltics, this is a matter of national security, so naturally, they are pushing NATO for a stronger maritime presence in the region. Estonians have been vocal about treating the shadow fleet as a military problem, not just an economic one.

And they’re right.

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To conclude, the Russian shadow fleet must be stopped. It threatens critical infrastructure and ocean ecology, while its trade profits directly fund Russia’s war on Ukraine. This requires imposing new sanctions and strictly enforcing existing ones.

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The 2nd edition of “Vatnik Soup — The Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation” is officially out!

You can order your copy here:

kleart.eu/webshop/p/vatn…

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More from @P_Kallioniemi

Aug 18
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explain the Alaska Fiasco and how it marks the peak of Trump’s two-year betrayal of Ukraine. What was sold as “peace talks” turned into a spectacle of weakness, humiliation, empty promises, and photo-ops that handed Putin exactly what he wanted.

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Let’s start with the obvious: Trump desperately wants the gold medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, mainly because Obama got one. That’s why he’s now LARPing as a “peace maker” in every conflict: Israel-Gaza, Azerbaijan-Armenia, India-Pakistan, and of course Ukraine-Russia.

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Another theory is that Putin holds kompromat — compromising material such as videos or documents — that would put Trump in an extremely bad light. Some have suggested it could be tied to the Epstein files or Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

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Read 25 tweets
Aug 11
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about engagement farming: a cynical social media tactic to rack up likes, shares, and comments. From rage farming to AI-powered outrage factories, engagement farming is reshaping online discourse and turning division into profit.

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Engagement farming is a social media tactic aimed at getting maximum likes, shares, and comments, with truth being optional. It thrives on provocative texts, images, or videos designed to spark strong reactions, boost reach, and turn online outrage into clicks and cash.

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One subset of engagement farming is rage farming: a tactic built to provoke strong negative emotions through outrageous or inflammatory claims. By triggering anger or moral outrage, these posts often generate 100s or even 1,000s of heated comments, amplifying their reach.

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Read 24 tweets
Aug 6
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the autocratic concept of “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars”: the idea that the leader is wise and just, but constantly sabotaged by corrupt advisors. This narrative shields the ruler from blame, and it’s used by both Putin and Trump today.

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The phrase “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars” (Царь хороший, бояре плохие), also known as Naïve Monarchism, refers to a long-standing idea in Russian political culture: the ruler is good and benevolent, but his advisors are corrupt, incompetent and responsible for all failures.

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From this perception, any positive action taken by the government is viewed as being an accomplishment of the benevolent leader, whereas any negative one is viewed as being caused by lower-level bureaucrats or “boyars”, without the approval of the leader.

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Read 21 tweets
Jul 28
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.

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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.

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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.

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Read 21 tweets
Jul 27
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.

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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!").

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Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.

Country code for the phone number is in Pakistan.

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Read 5 tweets
Jul 15
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.

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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.

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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.

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Read 23 tweets

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