Vatnik soup

Vatnik Soup is a Twitter-based series of threads of Russian disinformation actors that are compiled by Pekka Kallioniemi, a computer lecturer from Tampere University, Finland. The name comes from the pejorative word for a Russian vatnik which refers to the cold-weather army clothes that Russian soldiers wear, but has since recently being used to refer to supporters or fellow travellers of Vladimir Putin or Ruscism.

Since starting in 2022, Kallioniemi has compiled over 200 threads of people and organisations, mainly useful idiots who have been distributing Russian disinformation on social media, especially since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The threads initially profiled local Finnish fellow travellers such as Johan Bäckman, but has since expanded to include people such Max Blumenthal and Viktor Orbán, and more controversially, public figures seen to have soft stances towards Russia, like Pope Francis. It is now seen as part of the NAFO counter-disinformation network against Russian disinformation.

Notable threads

 * Andrew Anglin
 * Austria — The country is noted for soft stance against Russia, for Vienna's hub as a centre for spies and links to major Russian corporations including Austria's main oil and gas company OMV & major financial institution Raiffeisen Bank International.
 * Julian Assange
 * Arron Banks
 * Silvio Berlusconi
 * Max Blumenthal
 * Tucker Carlson
 * Noam Chomsky
 * Kim Dotcom
 * Aleksandr Dugin
 * Michael Flynn
 * Pope Francis
 * Tulsi Gabbard
 * George Galloway
 * Marjorie Taylor Greene
 * Glenn Greenwald
 * Jackson Hinkle
 * Elon Musk
 * Jordan Peterson
 * Janus Putkonen
 * Tara Reade, the woman who accused Joe Biden of sexually abusing her. She later defected to Russia.
 * Margarita Simonyan
 * Wagner Group
 * ZeroHedge