Vannacciani for Putin. Whilst Vannacci remains silent, his network has become an unofficial branch of Russia Today

Inside the Trojan horse, soldiers await orders. Some, however, cannot wait; they open a crack and fire arrows of propaganda. Russian propaganda, that is. In a photo generated by AI, General Roberto Vannacci raises a shot of vodka in the face of the Financial Times, which accused him of being a tool of Moscow’s disinformation campaign. The post is on his official social media profile, but it is his followers who are disseminating his messages across platforms, often exaggerating them to the point of absurdity. An artificial absurdity, of course. And whilst the esoteric superhero general is causing a stir on X (see Andrea Venanzoni’s piece in Il Foglio on 3 September), on Instagram there is his ‘ancient Roman’ version, with a few variations on the theme. Above the caption ‘Better friends than enemies. Robutin Vladicci’ is a photomontage of the general and Vladimir Putin on horseback, both smiling and shirtless. In another image, the Russian president is pouring vodka for Vannacci; in yet another, they are eating spaghetti at the table. 

These posts were circulated by Robertus Vannaccius, an account already shared by Vannacci and his supporters – often dismissed as ‘unrealistic satire’ – which in recent hours has stepped up its pro-Putin (and anti-Meloni) output. Within the space of a day, dozens of Instagram stories appeared on his profile in which Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are portrayed as cocaine addicts. First, a photo featuring two vacuum cleaners (labelled as the two political leaders), then two ‘Scarface’-style photomontages renamed ‘Cokraine’, in which they are shown facing a mountain of cocaine. This is one of the most recurring narratives in pro-Russian disinformation targeting Zelensky: the idea that the Ukrainian president is a corrupt drug user, and that the European leaders who support him share in his decadence. Russia Today, the Russian government-run television network already restricted by the EU, had used the same trick in June 2025. “Are you all right, Giorgia Meloni? Did you party too hard with Zelensky in The Hague?”, asked the RT profile whilst reposting a video in which the Prime Minister rubs her nose on the sidelines of the NATO summit. Today, that very same topic is being taken up by one of the world’s most popular content creators, Vannacci. Amidst the general silence. But not by the well-known influencer with links to right-wing circles, Robby Giusti, who on social media branded the accusations levelled at the Prime Minister as shameful: “I expect an immediate response from you, for you to say that these things do not represent you,” he said, addressing Vannacci.

It was the Prime Minister herself who lit the fuse; in an interview with Il Foglio, she laid down a very clear rule of engagement for the forthcoming centre-right coalition: there will be no backtracking on support for Kyiv. Vannacci’s supporters, who had until now been fairly mild-mannered towards Meloni, exploded with rage, and Robertus Vannaccius became a conveyor belt for Putinist propaganda. First, he posted a photo showing the general hugging Putin in front of the camera; then a video in which Zelensky and Meloni kiss passionately (caption: ‘Amongst little… people, we understand each other’); and following an interview with Marco Travaglio: ‘Zelensky is a bit like a drug-addicted lad whose parents never had the courage to get him into rehab’. After also criticising Carlo Calenda (“another Ukraine-obsessed person”), he claimed it was all just a game: “They’re provocative memes. Some people like South Park-style shock humour.” User comments, however, are teeming with Russian flags and messages celebrating the Vannaccian-Putin alliance. Local FN committees are no different. The one in Lucera, for example, posted an AI-generated image of a smiling Zelensky. Behind him lie the ruins of a bombing raid, complete with a petrol pump showing a price of 3 euros per litre. “They told us that Putin is the villain. Meanwhile, when Europe banned us from using Russian resources, EVERYTHING went up in price,” reads the post. 

Then, on 20 August, the ‘Futuro nazionale Roma’ page (20,000 followers) posted a reel in honour of Daria Dugina, a supporter of the Russian invasion who was killed in 2022 in an attack that was likely aimed at her father, Aleksandr Dugin, a Russian ultra-nationalist ideologue often described as close to the nationalist and imperialist circles that have supported Putin’s war. ““We remember her for the cultural and human legacy she has bequeathed to a generation,” the post reads. “The idea of a new Europe – free, sovereign and capable of conceiving of itself within a multipolar world.” 

Another constituent committee with over 3,000 followers has refuted the Financial Times’ allegations: in an AI-generated image, the Trojan horse bears a resemblance to Calenda, whilst numerous tiny Zelenskys emerge as Guido Crosetto happily counts the money for ‘rearmament’. ‘European families with no prospects? Don’t worry, Kyiv always comes first,’ the caption reads. 

Satire is the pretext, energy security the justification. AI does the rest: it turns the dream of a reconciliation (and a spaghetti feast) with Putin into images, churning out a constant stream of ammunition against Meloni, Zelensky and anyone who defends Kyiv. Vannacci’s MPs talk of the need to restore trade relations with Moscow, whilst Vannacci’s supporters do what the FN representatives cannot do in public: support Putin by acting as a megaphone for insinuations and attacks.