In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce a Ukrainian “scholar” and social media activist, Marta Havryshko (@HavryshkoMarta). She’s best known for spreading anti-Ukraine and pro-Kremlin narratives online, along with a habit of spotting neo-Nazis everywhere in Ukraine.
1/20
Marta hails from Ukraine, where she studied history at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. She received her PhD in history in 2010. Her academic work focused on gender-based violence and wartime atrocities, including publications on sexual crimes in occupied Ukraine.
2/20
She is currently working as a visiting Assistant Professor at the Strassler Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Clark University in the US. According to the center’s website, Marta teaches courses on antisemitism, racism, and gender-based violence in armed conflicts.
3/20
But her academic background plays little role in her public profile. Marta gained Grokipedia (not Wikipedia) fame by sharing videos of alleged far-right activity and forced mobilization in Ukraine. She claims the country is a Nazi state, including its government.
4/20
Now, a clear distinction is needed between activism and academic work. Havryshko is not an expert on far-right or neo-Nazi groups and has no scientific publications on the topic. She should therefore be described as a heavily biased, anti-Ukraine online activist.
5/20
Ms. Havryshko eagerly highlights even minor social media posts showing alleged far-right activity in Ukraine, yet shows little interest when the same occurs in the US. In her upside-down framing, American neo-Nazis are protected by the First Amendment, so it’s all kosher.
6/20
Due to her harsh and often unwarranted criticism of everything Ukraine-related, she has become popular in vatnik circles. The appeal is obvious: she is Ukrainian, claims to be “pro-humanity,” and opposes any positive change, like joining the EU, for her home country.
7/20
This likely explains why she has become a regular guest on Norwegian vatnik Glenn Diesen’s show. Diesen is a member of Putin’s Valdai club, has worked extensively for RT, denied Russia’s role in the MH17 shootdown, and labeled the Euromaidan as a “NATO-backed coup d’État.”
8/20
And if chatting shit with Diesen wasn’t bad enough, it gets worse. Much worse. In December 2025, Marta appeared on Jackson Hinkle’s Legitimate Targets propaganda show. As a Ukrainian activist, she did not seem bothered by Hinkle’s open support for the Putin regime.
9/20
And Hinkle is not just your average vatnik, he is a fanatical supporter of all the worst dictators and atrocities around, including the Nazi-themed Wagner group, infamous for torture and sexual abuse, Assad, Iran, Hamas and Stalin. To be fair, he probably gets paid for it.
10/20
None of Hinkle’s or Diesen’s shenanigans seem to bother Marta, which is striking given her academic background in Holocaust and genocide studies, including a stated focus on gender-based sexual violence and wartime atrocities under occupation.
She is celebrated by nostalgia-driven far-leftists and pro-Kremlin “journalists” such as the Grayzone crowd, Tarik Cyril Amar, and Ivan Katchanovski. Even Mark “Russian women expect you to rape them” Ames signed an open letter in defense of Ms. Havryshko.
12/20
Recently, Marta shared a speech by AfD leader Alice Weidel, rhetorically asking her followers whether this was “true leadership that Germany needs.” In the speech, Weidel called for an end to military aid to Ukraine and demanded the repair of the Nord Stream pipeline.
13/20
AfD is a far-right party whose members have openly expressed neo-Nazi views. In 2024, Weidel’s then-advisor Roland Hartwig attended a meeting with neo-Nazi influencers where plans for mass deportations of “non-assimilated people” were openly discussed.
14/20
For some reason, Marta failed to do even basic background research on AfD. She missed that the party’s members have used Nazi paramilitary slogans like “Alles für Deutschland,” and some have openly defended the Waffen SS. And here we thought she was against neo-Nazism.
15/20
If Havryshko sees no issue associating with figures like Jackson Hinkle, who praised Putin from the start of the full-scale invasion, or with parties like AfD, which is openly hostile to Ukraine and supportive of Russia, her sudden re-alignment towards Moscow is clear.
16/20
Judging by her recent sarcastic posts, she now openly despises Ukraine. Marta’s rapid shift from a refugee who fled Putin’s invasion and understood the need to fight him to a pro-Kremlin activist claiming Ukraine started the war raises an obvious question — what happened?
17/20
Marta often encourages pro-Ukraine activists to “go to the front.” One of them did, and later urged her to raise funds for Ukrainian children or civilians. Instead, he was accused of “stalking,” and as far as we know Ms Havryshko has raised a grand total of 0€ for Ukraine.
18/20
Unlike other vatniks, Marta does not deny Russian atrocities — she just seems to argue they are all the more reason to surrender (to those committing them!), as if that would somehow make them stop. Arguably, this is even more insidious than open support for the invasion.
19/20
To conclude, Marta Havryshko is an activist who completely switched sides on the invasion of her home country. This has made her warmly welcomed by the pro-kremlin crowd, who embraced her as one of their own.
Thank you @geogvma for the inspiration for this “poule au pot”.
20/20
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In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, we’ll reintroduce Laura Loomer @LauraLoomer, an American political activist. Our first possible case of a former vatnik, she’s best known for her unhinged takes on Ukraine & for admitting those were the result of falling for Russian propaganda.
1/20
When we first souped Laura, she was just one of many influential right-wingers and conspiracy theorists spreading vatnik propaganda: the usual, stale Kremlin narratives intended to help Russia with its invasion of Ukraine.
But now, she’s clearly and publicly admitted she was wrong. Now of course, this doesn’t mean that we agree with her on everything now, or that we can guarantee that she won’t change her mind again. But: her previous stance on Ukraine was extremely superficial…
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a French far-left politician. He’s best known for founding the party La France Insoumise (“Unsubmissive France”), demanding submission from his own movement and advocating global submission to authoritarian dictators.
1/23
Mélenchon received his early political education in the Organisation communiste internationaliste, a Trotskyist-Lambertist communist group known for secrecy, rigid discipline and entryism. Lionel Jospin was also a member, and both later joined the Socialist Party.
2/23
Mélenchon was elected to the Senate and was a junior minister in Jospin’s government. He left the Socialist Party in 2008, co-founded the Left Party, then the Left Front alliance with the Communists & ran as its presidential candidate. He was also an MEP from 2009 to 2017.
In today’s Vatnik Soup and our “Degenerate Russia” series, we’ll discuss what kind of lowlifes sink low enough to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, lie on Russia’s behalf, promote Russian BS, and even gather in Moscow or St. Petersburg to help the Kremlin wage its war.
1/21
For over a decade now and as part of their “firehose of falsehood” propaganda strategy, Russia has been spreading false narratives targeting right-wing/conservative audiences, portraying Russia as a bastion of Christian, traditional, family values.
Russia is also normalizing relations with the Taliban, doesn’t recognize Hamas or Hezbollah as terrorist groups, and deepens its military partnership with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the regime that legalized pedophilia through child marriage.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce Vincent Bolloré, a French billionaire and media tycoon. He’s best known for building a powerful media empire and for reshaping editorial lines across French media and publishing, pushing them toward far-right and pro-Kremlin positions.
1/25
Born in 1952 in Boulogne-Billancourt to a family of industrialists, Vincent studied law at Paris Nanterre University. He took over the family business and turned it into a sprawling conglomerate spanning logistics, port infrastructure in Africa, advertising, and media.
2/25
Bolloré’s African logistics empire also became the subject of a long-running corruption investigation in France. Legal proceedings against Vincent Bolloré personally are still ongoing, with a trial planned in December, after a judge refused to approve a plea deal.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we’ll introduce an American conspiracy theorist, podcaster & antisemite, Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO). She’s best known for spreading conspiracy theories, attacking Ukraine, promoting pro-Kremlin BS, and becoming a favorite of Russian state media.
1/21
Candace started her career as an intern at Vogue magazine but later moved into political commentary. Her early career focused on criticizing Republicans, calling their antics “bat-shit crazy.” In 2016, her blog even published an article about Trump’s penis size.
2/21
That same year, she launched a doxxing website called SocialAutopsy. In response, people began posting Owens’s personal information online. During the controversy, she gained support from figures such as @Nero and @Cernovich. And just like that, she became a conservative.
In today’s Wumao Soup, we’ll talk about Taiwan, the sovereign country the Chinese Communist Party insists is not a country, but constantly threatens to invade just like a country, while the “antiwar” crowd is eagerly encouraging them to start that war, endangering millions.
1/20
Taiwan is a country, a state. It has its own territory, government, army, police, courts, taxes, passports and elections, just like any other country.
The only difference? Its neighbor, imperialist China, wants to invade it, and other countries try to please the big bully.
2/20
Taiwan’s official name is the Republic of China, or ROC. The ROC was founded in 1912, after the fall of the Qing dynasty. The People’s Republic of China, or PRC, was founded by democidal dictator Mao Zedong and his communist party, in 1949, after fighting against the ROC.