Pekka Kallioniemi

“ How to recognize a pro-Russian propagandist? They don’t like to talk about Russia.

They’ll demonize the US, NATO, Ukraine, NED, CIA and the “globalists”, but if you ask Max Blumenthal, George Galloway or Aaron Maté anything about Russia, all you get is deafening silence.

— Pekka Kallioniemi [1]

Vatnik Soups

• Official website: Vatnik Soup

Concepts

Russian World

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatnik soup I’ll discuss Russkiy mir, the “Russian World”. It’s a concept that comprises of core culture of Russia, including its traditions & interactions with other cultures. This series is an attempt to explain motivations behind Russia’s actions & motivations”, December 22, 2022 (thread) (pdf)

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatnik soup I’ll continue talking about Russkiy mir, the “Russian World”. This time I’ll focus on the Russian idea of nationality, “Narodnost”, and I’ll also discuss Russian imperalism.”, December 23, 2022 (thread) (pdf)

Kremlinism/Propaganda

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatnik soup I’ll discuss Russia’s disinformation and propaganda campaigning in more detail, and go through four of the main ”big“ themes around which most of their propaganda is based on.”, January 7, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Firehose of falsehood

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll be talking about the Russian style of online propaganda and disinformation, “Firehose of Falsehood”. It’s a commonly used Kremlin strategy for Russian information operations, which often prioritizes quantity over quality.”, May 4, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

russia/Journalism

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup I’m going to be talking about the most dangerous profession in Russia: journalism. Many investigative journalists have sacrificed their lives to shed light into corruption, kleptocracy and war crimes committed in both Soviet Union and in Russia.”, March 14, 2022 (thread) (pdf)

Events

Euromaidan

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup and another edition of “You pronounced this nonsense, not me”, I’ll talk about an event called the Revolution of Dignity AKA Maidan Revolution. It was a wave of demonstrations in Ukraine that took place in 2013 and 2014.”, March 13, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “As a little dessert for today’s rather heavy #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a real coup that was supposed to be done by Yanukovych and his Party of Regions, with the help of Putin. This conspiracy was revealed by a former People’s Deputy of Ukraine, Oleg Anatolyevich Tsaryov.”, March 13, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Kremlintarianism/Rage Against the War Machine Rally

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup I’m going to talk about the “antiwar movement”. After Putin organized the fake referendums in the four Ukrainian Oblasts,various pro-Kremlin parties started calling for immediate peace in Ukraine. Unsurprisingly, the movement was planned by the Kremlin.”, April 29, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Organizations

Kremlinism/Terrorism/Wagner

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatnik soup I’ll introduce Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group. I have written about the topic before, but now that it’s been designated as a Transnational Criminal Organization by the US, we should reiterate some key points and update the latest news about them.”, January 22, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

The Grayzone

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatnik soup I’ll introduce one of the biggest disinformation and propaganda blogs on the web: The Grayzone (@TheGrayzoneNews). It’s best known for misleading reporting, disinformation and love of authoritarian regimes and dictators.”, January 1st, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Vatniks

Max Abrahms

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup I’ll introduce an American academic, political scientist and Quincy Institute author, Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms). He’s best-known for his pro-Russian and pro-Syrian views, and especially for trying to fit them into an academic framework.”, March 17, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Lauren Boebert

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American politician and gun rights activist, Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert). She’s best-known for her support of the QAnon conspiracy theory, for her support of Donald Trump, and for her pro-Russian voting patterns and hot takes.”, April 10, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Donbass Devushka

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American propagandist and podcaster, Donbass Devushka. She’s best-known for her fake Russian identity, for her pro-Russian podcast, and for spreading false, pro-Russian narratives on social media.”, April 15, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Jimmy Dore

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatnik soup I’ll be introducing a comedian-turned-propagandist and conspiracy theorist, Jimmy Dore. He’s the host of The Jimmy Dore Show, a comedic talk show but without any comedy.”, January 28, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

George Galloway

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatnik soup I’ll be introducing a British reality TV star and a propagandist, George Galloway. He’s best known for his appearance on Big Brother, affiliation with Russia state-media & his love for various authoritarian regimes around the globe.”, January 17, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Max Blumenthal

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatnik soup (thanks Mike Edward, @OpsATX for the name!) I’ll be introducing the Editor of the @TheGrayzoneNews, Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal). In his previous life, he reported on prestigious publications such as NYT, LA Times and Al Jazeera English...”, November 1st, 2022 (thread) (pdf)

Karin Kneissl

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup I’ll introduce an Austrian diplomat, journalist and politician Karin Kneissl. She’s best-known for serving as Austria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, blogging for RT, and being in the supervisory board of Russian integrated energy company, Rosneft.”, March 16, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Roger Köppel

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Swiss politician and journalist, Roger Köppel (@KoeppelRoger). He’s best-known for his weekly magazine, die Weltwoche, and for his pro-Kremlin commentary on social and Russia-sponsored media, as well as on his magazine.”, May 3, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

John Laughland

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatnik soup I’ll introduce a British euroskeptic, pro-Russian and anti-American author, John Laughland. He’s best-known for his work for the Russia-funded Institute of Democracy and Cooperation and for Thierry Baudet’s political party, Forum voor Democratie.”, February 23, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Marine Le Pen

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup I’ll introduce a French lawyer and politician, Marine Le Pen. She’s best-known for her attempts at becoming the president of France and for her connections to the European far-right movement and to Vladimir Putin.”, March 26, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Caleb T. Maupin

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American pro-Russian propagandist, communist and “journalist”, Caleb T. Maupin (@RealCalebMaupin). He’s best-known for running a communist, cult-like, pro-Russian “think tank”, Center for Political Innovation.”, April 17, 2023 (thread) (pdf) (audio)

Matteo Salvini

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup we’ll do our first trip to Italy as I introduce an Italian politician and Deputy Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi). He’s best-known for his Russia-related funding scandals, and for his Euroskeptic and pro-Putin views.”, March 15, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Olga Skabeyeva

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatnik soup, I’ll introduce a Russian TV presenter and propagandist, Olga “Iron Doll of Putin” Skabeyeva. She’s best-known for her hot takes on the Russo-Ukrainian War on Russian TV.”, February 26, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Mick Wallace

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatnik soup I’ll introduce an Irish politician and a MEP from (South) Ireland: Mick Wallace. He aligns himself strongly with another Irish MEP, Clare Daly, and his love for both Russia and China has been evident in his recent comments and appearances.”, January 11, 2023 (thread) (pdf) (Mick Wallace, Clare Daly)

Wyatt Reed

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American pro-Russian propagandist, Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13). He’s best-known for his work for Sputnik, and for parroting the classic Kremlin narratives such as “Ukrainian Nazis”, “genocide in Donbas” & the “corrupted Kiev regime”.”, May 3, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Scott Ritter

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatnik soup I’ll introduce an American arms inspector, convicted criminal and a pro-Russian propagandist, Scott Ritter (@RealScottRitter). He’s best known for his biased takes on the Russo-Ukrainian War, his propaganda work for RT and for his sex offenses.”, February 2, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

Donald Trump

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll talk about the Trump 2016 presidential campaign, and how it was connected to various Russian actors. In this retrospect, I’ll introduce some of the people who worked in Trump’s 2016 campaign for the presidency, outlining their activities.”, May 5, 2023 (thread) (pdf) (audio)

Maria Zakharova

• Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today’s #vatnik soup I’ll introduce a russian spokeswoman and a birthday girl, Maria Zakharova. She’s been working at this position since 2015. Maria married Andrei Makarov in a glamorous ceremony in New York in 2005. This soup consists of pictures from this lavish event.” (thread) (pdf)