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.
Russia got its infamous Shahed suicide drones from Iran, including the designs, and they now manufacture them domestically with child labor and bomb Christian churches in Ukraine with them. There’s also Kadyrov’s TikTok army dreaming of Berlin.
4/21
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is unspeakably evil and an unambiguous act of sheer aggression. It obviously raises the question of what sort of person would support it, excuse it, or deliberately try to distract from it.
Normal people also don’t travel to Russia now, as there are obvious risks for anyone not serving the regime, such as ending up as a hostage.
5/21
The Kremlin loves to brand Russia and its fans as the last defenders of “traditional values” against the “decadent” West.
But in reality, Russia’s supporters, just like its soldiers, are riddled with accusations of sex trafficking and sexual abuse, including of minors.
It should come as no surprise that the infamous Tate brothers are big Russia supporters and were there around the time of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF, June 3-6), which was attended by vatniks such as Candace Owens, Sasha Jost, Scott Ritter, and Errol Musk.
The Tates are facing legal proceedings and investigations in three countries (UK, Romania, US), on many charges including rape, bodily harm, sex trafficking, organized criminal exploitation of women, trafficking of minors, coercion into sex work…
Some of their alleged victims were as young as 15: According to the documents, Andrew “repeatedly engaged in sexual intercourse and anal and oral sexual acts,” while “knowing she was 15 years old.” According to her, Andrew also beat her with a belt and choked her – one time so hard that she fainted. Many of the accusations are corroborated by video evidence or their outright bragging about it.
9/21
Initially reluctant to speak about it out of concern for her career in those “right-wing values” circles, Lauren Southern later stated that Andrew Tate raped and choked her in a Bucharest hotel room in 2018, after she became unexpectedly intoxicated after only two drinks.
10/21
And indeed, the Tates are not only welcome in the vatnik homeland, but also in vatnik/MAGA circles in the US: followed by JD Vance, promoted by Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson.
Alina Habba, Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and now a senior adviser to the attorney general, is a “big fan” of theirs. Benny Johnson, like Lauren Southern, was financed by Russia through Tenet Media.
11/21
Even Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. is friends with them. And speaking of convicted felon Donald “grab them by the pussy” Trump, another “big fan” of Putin, he’s also not exactly a model of virtue either, of course.
Another infamous example is Scott Ritter, a supporter of Russia in their war on Ukraine and especially fan of Wagner (child kidnappings and sexual abuse) and Hamas (child kidnappings and sexual abuse).
Ritter sought sexual interactions with 14, 15, 16 years old that turned out to be undercover cops, three times, was arrested and did jail time for it. At that time, by the way, Ritter was married to his 2nd wife — a 19 year old assigned to him by Russia, whom he left his first wife for. Ah those traditional family values!
14/21
Ritter, in turn, is supported by his fellow vatniks, the likes of Tara Reade, Diane Sare, etc. Despite openly supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine and the whole of Europe, and even against his own country, he is welcomed in Kremlintarian and “anti-war” circles and even Trump’s MAGA/MAHA circles through RFK Jr.
15/21
Errol Musk is also a regular in Russia at vatnik events, such as Konstantin Malofeev’s Tsargrad’s “Forum of the Future”.
Errol’s son Elon has been repeatedly amplifying pro-Kremlin propaganda after talking to Putin and receiving threats.
Another vatnik present in St. Petersburg was infamous carrot-eater Steven Seagal, gloriously fighting Russians in his B-movies but now serving them in real life. He, too, has faced multiple sexual misconduct allegations.
Now a proud Russian citizen.
17/21
As their “two-day special military operation” is now hitting them even in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia is getting desperate and scraping the bottom of the barrel for the worst dregs willing to help them. As this doesn’t seem to be working either, Malofeev is calling for nuclear strikes, as is tradition.
18/21
And, last but not least, their tsar and idol Vladimir Putin himself was denounced as a pedo by Alexander Litvinenko. For this, Russia murdered him with a dose of polonium-210 worth $10 million, a British citizen, executed in the middle of London.
19/21
Russia spends $5 billion a year on propaganda to manufacture support for its invasions through vatniks and narratives grotesquely disconnected from reality such as their alleged “family values” of terror, abuse and destruction, pushed by the worst scum on earth.
Fact-based research to expose them for the liars, frauds and grifters they are takes time and effort.
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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.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we’ll introduce Russian propaganda operations around military targets like Starobilsk. For over a decade, the Kremlin has used similar strategies, combining crisis actors, “independent journalists” and fabricated evidence.
1/13
First, let’s go back to 2014. Russia funded separatist groups and sent its mercenaries to Donbas, which led to the creation of two puppet states, Donetsk and Luhansk, governed by Russian propagandists and soldiers like Igor Girkin.
The fake genocide was touted as one of the main reasons for Russia’s war during the early stages of the full-scale invasion, and the claim was made even by Putin himself. Before his mutiny, late Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said that all this was fabricated bullshit.
In this 9th Debunk of the Day, we’ll discuss “legitimate military targets”. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine, with no declaration of war, hiding behind a “special military operation”. Yet vatniks & useful idiots pretend Russia has any legitimate or lawful targets in Ukraine.
1/8
Russia started the war in 2014 by seizing Crimea with unmarked soldiers, “little green men”. Russians have been waging an undeclared, illegal war with endless war crimes ever since, whether it’s kidnapping of Ukrainian children with genocidal intent…
… the concentration camps for Ukrainians under occupation, conscripting Ukrainians from occupied territories, or the terrorist, deliberate bombing of civilians, including their infamous “double tap” strikes.
So no, Russia does not have any “legitimate targets” in Ukraine.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce Hasan Piker, a Turkish-American streamer and millionaire. He’s best known for his champagne socialism, rabid criticism of the US and Israel, support for the Soviet Union and for Chinese and Russian invasions, and for mistreating his dog.
1/20
Born in 1991, Piker grew up in a privileged and well-connected environment. His father held senior roles at big corporations and his uncle, Cenk Uygur, is the founder of The Young Turks media network. He graduated cum laude from Rutgers, a top-tier university in New Jersey.
2/20
His main activity and primary source of income consists of hours-long livestreams on Twitch where he comments on news and yells at videos. He also keeps his dog in place the whole time with a shock collar.