Comrade Blunderov and Major Gaslightovich -Yazd

The image is a masterclass in state-sponsored disinformation theater, featuring a Russian-language propaganda book clutched triumphantly in front of Iran’s iconic Amir Chakhmaq Complex in Yazd. The visual screams self-congratulatory arrogance, perfectly capturing the spirit of Moscow’s newest intelligence cosplay campaign. The book itself, dripping in loud hues of red and orange like a bad Soviet poster reprint, features a brooding romachev trying to hawk his book while looking like a rejected Spetsnaz influencer who took one online OSINT course and now fancies himself the next Lavrentiy Beria with Wi-Fi.

Enter our protagonists of geopolitical farce: Roman “Still Thinks It’s 1983” Romachev and Andrei “Ctrl+C Ctrl+Putin” Manoilo, the Kremlin’s intellectual equivalent of boiled potatoes. These two FSB monkeyboys specialize in producing thick, jargon-stuffed pseudo-academic content that blends conspiracy, wishful thinking, and weaponized self-delusion. Their whole shtick is built on the illusion that reposting memes and plagiarizing Western doctrine somehow qualifies as fourth-generation psychological warfare.

Romachev, whose name should probably be changed to “Rublov-Boomerov,” struts around like he invented the concept of information confrontation, when in reality he just rebranded Cold War tactics using hashtags and fake leaks. Meanwhile, Manoilo—who writes about cognitive warfare like a man who lost a chess match to a toaster—believes his work in building “network structures” in places like Iran proves Russia’s superiority in “high-level psych operations.” In truth, these networks resemble a Telegram LARP group run by Iranian cyber-militia interns trying to win brownie points with their IRGC supervisors.

The caption quoted is the real gem: “Meanwhile, in Iran, over the past year and with our participation, network structures have been formed capable of carrying out informational-psychological confrontation at an extremely high level.” This sounds like something Comrade Bragov the Boastful would mutter before his cyber team got banned from Clubhouse. The phrase “extremely high level” is doing so much heavy lifting here, it deserves a pension. Their so-called achievements amount to repackaging tired anti-American narratives, fabricating Western-sponsored “proxies,” and claiming influence every time a blog criticizes Washington.

What this really illustrates is the Kremlin’s desperate need for validation–> projecting a fantasy world where minor influence ops in obscure corners of the internet are treated like grand strategic victories. And of course, the disinformers wrap this in “academic” packaging to mask its ideological hollowness. These functions—fabrication, amplification, narrative laundering—are all too familiar to Treadstone 71 whose detailed adversary profiling and counter-influence expertise show just how amateurish and self-referential Kremlin psychological warfare remains when you strip away the bluster.

So go ahead, Comrade Blunderov and Major Gaslightovich, parade your garbage in front of Iranian mosques. Just know that behind the staged optics and cyber peacocking, your info-cowboys are riding hobby horses while the world watches your strategic decay in high-definition.