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In today’s #Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce #Russia’s main narratives and explain how they are being spread online by #Russian operatives and #MAGA Republicans. After three years of war, Russia still relies on old narratives, now amplified by the #Trump administration.

1/25

#russia #trump #maga #russian #vatnik
Pekka Kallioniemi
Throughout the years – or even decades – #Russia’s narratives against the West have remained largely the same. Many of them date back to the #ColdWar era, when the #KGB and #CIA were bitter enemies. But since then, the media landscape has drastically changed.

2/25



#russia #CIA #coldwar #kgb
Pekka Kallioniemi
Russian #propaganda and #disinformation revolves around four main themes:

1) #Russia is the victim,
2) Historical revisionism,
3) The “decadent West” is collapsing,
4) The #CIA and/or “evil Anglo-Saxons” are behind every revolution & anti - #Kremlin activity.

3/25




#russia #disinformation #propaganda #CIA #Kremlin
Pekka Kallioniemi
Today, #Russia’s information #warfare has 3 main goals:

1) End all #aid to #Ukraine,
2) Change #leadership in #Kyiv,
3) Lift Russia #sanctions

Right now, the #Kremlin’s #disinformation mainly focuses on demonizing Ukraine’s leadership, especially President #Zelensky.

4/25
#ukraine #russia #sanctions #kyiv #disinformation #zelensky #Kremlin #aid #leadership #warfare
Pekka Kallioniemi
Since the #Trump administration is actively aligning itself with the #Kremlin, the #MAGA movement and its leaders have been aggressively spreading these #lies. The most prominent one, even echoed by Trump, is that #Zelensky is a “#dictator” who doesn’t want #peace.

5/25

#trump #maga #peace #dictator #zelensky #Kremlin #lies
Pekka Kallioniemi
First, #Trump has demanded that #Ukraine hold elections. This is impossible, as Ukraine is under #martiallaw due to #Russia’s invasion, and its constitution prohibits #elections during wartime. Also,how would people in occupied territories vote? Who would oversee the process?

6/25




#ukraine #russia #elections #trump #martiallaw
Pekka Kallioniemi
Second, #Trump and his #allies have criticized media #censorship in #Ukraine. In reality, Ukraine shut down outlets owned by Viktor Medvedchuk – #Russia’s top choice to lead a puppet government if #Kyiv fell. His channels were 100% Russian #propaganda.

7/25




#ukraine #russia #trump #censorship #kyiv #propaganda #allies
Pekka Kallioniemi
Third, many #Trump associates have condemned the banning of the #Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the #Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). The Russian Orthodox Church, led by #KGB agent Vladimir Gundyayev, functions as an extension of Russian intelligence agencies.

8/25




#trump #ukrainian #Moscow #kgb
Pekka Kallioniemi
Fourth, #Trump has inflated the amount of #US aid sent to #Ukraine while ignoring the fact that 90% of Ukraine-related spending stays in the country, creating thousands of #jobs. His actions have hurt the US #defense industry, causing defense #stocks to plummet.

9/25




#ukraine #trump #us #jobs #stocks #defense
Pekka Kallioniemi
Fifth, #MAGA #Republicans now accuse #Zelensky of “murdering journalists,” referencing the case of Gonzalo #Lira. Lira was a violent criminal #propagandist who violated the Article 463-2 of #Ukraine’s criminal code, and died of pneumonia after years of smoking two packs a day.

10/25




#ukraine #maga #zelensky #republicans #lira #propagandist
Pekka Kallioniemi
Other fake stories are circulating too, mainly spreading doom and gloom about #Ukraine’s situation. These have been thoroughly debunked by @TheStudyofWar in their Ukraine fact sheet:

11/25

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/ukraine-fact-sheet-february-21-2025

Institute for the Study of War

Russian forces currently occupy around 20 percent of Ukraine, leaving the remaining 80 percent of the country under Ukraine's sovereign control. At the current rate of advance, it would take Russian forces over 83 years to capture the remaining 80
Institute for the Study of War
#ukraine
Pekka Kallioniemi
Tracking how these narratives infiltrate #MAGA circles is easy – they mainly originate from two sources: Douglas Macgregor and Tucker Carlson. Macgregor is a former #US military officer who, at some point, decided to start rooting for #Russia.

12/25


#russia #maga #us
Pekka Kallioniemi
Macgregor has been consistently wrong about #Ukraine since day one of the full-scale #invasion yet people still take him seriously. Unsurprisingly, #Russian state media frequently cite him.

13/25
#ukraine #russian #invasion
Pekka Kallioniemi
Most of you already know Tucker #Carlson and probably remember how he was humiliated by #Putin, or how he was astonished to find fresh bread in a #French supermarket in #Moscow. For years now, he’s been busy laundering #Russian lies into social media.

14/25


#putin #french #russian #Moscow #carlson
Pekka Kallioniemi
Many of the major lies now being spread by #Trump and his associates originated from #Tucker’s show on X. For example, Bob Amsterdam, who has been pushing #Russian narratives and who was working for Russian oligarch Vadym Novynskyi, has appeared on Tucker’s show twice.

15/25


#trump #russian #tucker
Pekka Kallioniemi
There are other sources of #Russian #disinformation, too. AI-generated #fakenews sites have been spreading lies for years. One of the masterminds behind these networks is an American living in #Moscow, John Mark Dougan.

17/25



#disinformation #fakenews #russian #Moscow
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Pekka Kallioniemi
A recent US Department of Justice indictment (sadly, probably the last one we’ll see for a while for this type of activities) revealed that the #Kremlin funnels money to social media influencers who then spread #Russian #propaganda for profit.

18/25




#russian #propaganda #Kremlin
Pekka Kallioniemi
#Russia and the #Trump administration are also focusing on attacking America’s former #allies in #Europe while manipulating US #elections through social media. Russia’s goal is to polarize Western societies and fuel internal #division.

19/25




Pekka Kallioniemi
At the same time, people like Elon #Musk and JD #Vance complain that the #EU is “censoring” social media by enforcing content regulations. Vance has even suggested that the US could pull off of #NATO if the EU started regulating Elon’s X.

20/25



#musk #eu #nato #vance
Pekka Kallioniemi
The #US has no moral high ground on this issue–#Trump and his allies have persecuted journalists, fired critics, and run the world’s largest prison industrial complex, with 1,8 million people incarcerated. Also, their “#freedom of speech” only seems to extend to social media.

21/25




#trump #us #freedom
Pekka Kallioniemi
And if #censorship is so bad, why isn’t the #US criticizing #Russia? #Putin’s regime has banned nearly all independent media, blocked Western social platforms, and imprisons anyone who criticizes the war. They won’t even call Russia the #aggressor of the Russo-Ukrainian #War.

22/25



#russia #war #putin #us #censorship #aggressor
Pekka Kallioniemi
It looks like the #Trump administration’s endgame is to lift all #sanctions on #Russia & pursue economic cooperation, sidelining the EU in global decision-making while weakening transatlantic alliances. And loot #Ukraine together with Russia while throwing them under the bus.

23/25



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