Amelie Tolvin
@atolvin.bsky.social
phd candidate at the university of toronto and visiting researcher, university of helsinki
i study authoritarian regimes and (para)military violence
i study authoritarian regimes and (para)military violence
Pinned
Amelie Tolvin
@atolvin.bsky.social
· Apr 9
Why Don’t Russian Soldiers Revolt?
Astonishing death rates and brutal abuse have not kept troops from following orders.
foreignpolicy.com
My first Foreign Policy essay is out - it examines the role of violence in Russia's military, which both creates docility in the face of meatgrinder tactics, and encourages increased violence towards fellow soldiers and Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians. foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/r...
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
Russia attacked kindergarten in Kharkiv. Russia’s daily terror across Ukraine continues.
October 22, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Russia attacked kindergarten in Kharkiv. Russia’s daily terror across Ukraine continues.
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
"Understanding [Russia's] long-term patterns of strategic deception is essential in order to effectively counter" them. Important long read from @katri.bsky.social and @atolvin.bsky.social breaking down how Russia shapes outcomes through narratives over decades.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reconstructing Kremlin strategic deception: the logic of disinformation narratives during the first phase of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Official Kremlin rhetoric about the ‘special military operation’ produces clashing, often contrasting interpretations of reality. This article applies perspectives from Soviet ideological language ...
www.tandfonline.com
October 8, 2025 at 7:36 PM
"Understanding [Russia's] long-term patterns of strategic deception is essential in order to effectively counter" them. Important long read from @katri.bsky.social and @atolvin.bsky.social breaking down how Russia shapes outcomes through narratives over decades.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
Our paper with @atolvin.bsky.social at #iccees2025 about Russia's strategic deception, will be published later this year!
July 21, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Our paper with @atolvin.bsky.social at #iccees2025 about Russia's strategic deception, will be published later this year!
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
They hit a subway station in Kyiv where people were hiding from explosions
July 21, 2025 at 4:45 AM
They hit a subway station in Kyiv where people were hiding from explosions
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
The situation with Russians killing a toddler with a drone is especially despicable when you realize this wasn’t a stray artillery shell that landed 50 meters off, or a Shahed drone that hit a tall building, but an FPV drone, guided in real time by an operator watching it live
July 10, 2025 at 7:55 AM
The situation with Russians killing a toddler with a drone is especially despicable when you realize this wasn’t a stray artillery shell that landed 50 meters off, or a Shahed drone that hit a tall building, but an FPV drone, guided in real time by an operator watching it live
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
Ceasefire shmeasefire.
Air alert in Kyiv - threat of ballistic missile launches from east. Explosions reported in Kharkiv.
Air alert in Kyiv - threat of ballistic missile launches from east. Explosions reported in Kharkiv.
April 19, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Ceasefire shmeasefire.
Air alert in Kyiv - threat of ballistic missile launches from east. Explosions reported in Kharkiv.
Air alert in Kyiv - threat of ballistic missile launches from east. Explosions reported in Kharkiv.
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
Ru ceasefires are always lies. Time for a broader audience to learn what Ukrainians have known for 11 yrs.
No signs of a ceasefire announced by Putin today, Ukrainian officials and soldiers say.
Russian drone attack reported in the Ukrainian city of Kherson.
Russian drone attack reported in the Ukrainian city of Kherson.
April 19, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Ru ceasefires are always lies. Time for a broader audience to learn what Ukrainians have known for 11 yrs.
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
Foreign policy asks a fantastic question - why don’t Russian soldiers revolt. After all they all die.
Here is the answer. 1/
Here is the answer. 1/
April 15, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Foreign policy asks a fantastic question - why don’t Russian soldiers revolt. After all they all die.
Here is the answer. 1/
Here is the answer. 1/
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
Russia killed at least 21 people in Sumy, northern Ukraine, today, on Palm Sunday. Two ballistic missiles hit the center of the city. More than 80 people are injured. This attack made absolutely no sense other than to terrorise civilians and to showcase Russia's impunity.
April 13, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Russia killed at least 21 people in Sumy, northern Ukraine, today, on Palm Sunday. Two ballistic missiles hit the center of the city. More than 80 people are injured. This attack made absolutely no sense other than to terrorise civilians and to showcase Russia's impunity.
My first Foreign Policy essay is out - it examines the role of violence in Russia's military, which both creates docility in the face of meatgrinder tactics, and encourages increased violence towards fellow soldiers and Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians. foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/r...
Why Don’t Russian Soldiers Revolt?
Astonishing death rates and brutal abuse have not kept troops from following orders.
foreignpolicy.com
April 9, 2025 at 8:23 AM
My first Foreign Policy essay is out - it examines the role of violence in Russia's military, which both creates docility in the face of meatgrinder tactics, and encourages increased violence towards fellow soldiers and Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians. foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/r...
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
"Astonishing death rates and brutal abuse have not kept troops from following orders." - a brilliant piece by @atolvin.bsky.social at foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/r...
Why Don’t Russian Soldiers Revolt?
Astonishing death rates and brutal abuse have not kept troops from following orders.
foreignpolicy.com
April 9, 2025 at 8:01 AM
"Astonishing death rates and brutal abuse have not kept troops from following orders." - a brilliant piece by @atolvin.bsky.social at foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/r...
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome @atolvin.bsky.social's debut piece in Foreign Policy, on how the ingrained violence of Russia's military system helps explain both acquiescence in the meatgrinder and atrocities toward its victims.
Keep writing please.
foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/r...
Keep writing please.
foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/r...
Why Don’t Russian Soldiers Revolt?
Astonishing death rates and brutal abuse have not kept troops from following orders.
foreignpolicy.com
April 9, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome @atolvin.bsky.social's debut piece in Foreign Policy, on how the ingrained violence of Russia's military system helps explain both acquiescence in the meatgrinder and atrocities toward its victims.
Keep writing please.
foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/r...
Keep writing please.
foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/r...
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
I don't care what side of the Israel-Palestine conflict your sympathies lie on, snatching up people with a valid student visa for the crime of writing an OpEd is naked fascism and if you don't oppose this you are a threat to this country's most basic values
Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying.
They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.
From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY
They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.
From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY
March 26, 2025 at 6:25 PM
I don't care what side of the Israel-Palestine conflict your sympathies lie on, snatching up people with a valid student visa for the crime of writing an OpEd is naked fascism and if you don't oppose this you are a threat to this country's most basic values
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
this is just abjectly fucking terrifying
nobody should be disappeared because they wrote an op-ed
nobody should be disappeared at all
nobody should be disappeared because they wrote an op-ed
nobody should be disappeared at all
Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying.
They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.
From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY
They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.
From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY
March 26, 2025 at 6:13 PM
this is just abjectly fucking terrifying
nobody should be disappeared because they wrote an op-ed
nobody should be disappeared at all
nobody should be disappeared because they wrote an op-ed
nobody should be disappeared at all
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
None of these crimes will stop if Russia manages to formally keep the occupied territories. On the contrary, they will escalate. Because they are not the product of the war per se but of Russia’s objective of erasing the Ukrainian nation as Ukrainians define it and imposing a ru-defined Ukr identity
NEW!!! UN investigation concludes that russia has committed the crimes against humanity of enforced disappearances and torture in its war in Ukraine…
March 14, 2025 at 4:08 PM
None of these crimes will stop if Russia manages to formally keep the occupied territories. On the contrary, they will escalate. Because they are not the product of the war per se but of Russia’s objective of erasing the Ukrainian nation as Ukrainians define it and imposing a ru-defined Ukr identity
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
On this International Women's Day, please consider donating to VETERANKA - a Ukrainian charity that helps women who serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and female veterans.
uwvm.org.ua/uk/
uwvm.org.ua/uk/
March 8, 2025 at 9:24 AM
On this International Women's Day, please consider donating to VETERANKA - a Ukrainian charity that helps women who serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and female veterans.
uwvm.org.ua/uk/
uwvm.org.ua/uk/
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
Total bully tactics by the US president and VP. This is not diplomacy. This is not neutrality. This is siding with the aggressor and trying to finish off the victim. President Zelensky was the only one in the room to behave with dignity.
February 28, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Total bully tactics by the US president and VP. This is not diplomacy. This is not neutrality. This is siding with the aggressor and trying to finish off the victim. President Zelensky was the only one in the room to behave with dignity.
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
Helsinki tonight
February 24, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Helsinki tonight
Today, the Aleksanteri Institute at the University of Helsinki is hosting a series of roundtable discussions on three years of Ukrainian resistance to the full-scale invasion
February 24, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Today, the Aleksanteri Institute at the University of Helsinki is hosting a series of roundtable discussions on three years of Ukrainian resistance to the full-scale invasion
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
Join us in Helsinki or online on 24 February to discuss three years of Ukraine's resistance
Thanks to Aleksanteri Institute, @amtolok.bsky.social, @sierrasalazar.bsky.social, Maija Harju, @unabergmane.bsky.social for organising!
Thanks to Aleksanteri Institute, @amtolok.bsky.social, @sierrasalazar.bsky.social, Maija Harju, @unabergmane.bsky.social for organising!
E-Lomake - Roundtable discussions: Three Years of Ukrainian Resistance to the Full-Scale Invasion
elomake.helsinki.fi
February 18, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Join us in Helsinki or online on 24 February to discuss three years of Ukraine's resistance
Thanks to Aleksanteri Institute, @amtolok.bsky.social, @sierrasalazar.bsky.social, Maija Harju, @unabergmane.bsky.social for organising!
Thanks to Aleksanteri Institute, @amtolok.bsky.social, @sierrasalazar.bsky.social, Maija Harju, @unabergmane.bsky.social for organising!
Reposted by Amelie Tolvin
New: Kherson’s civilians have been the target of an experiment without precedent in modern European warfare: a concerted Russian campaign to empty a city by stalking its residents with attack drones. Story w/ @samjoiner.bsky.social @inari-ta.bsky.social + @cen4infores.bsky.social
on.ft.com/4fTNzAL
on.ft.com/4fTNzAL
Russia uses civilians as ‘target practice’ for killer drones
Southern Ukrainian city of Kherson hit more than 9,500 times as Moscow attempts to drive out residents
on.ft.com
December 4, 2024 at 7:09 AM
New: Kherson’s civilians have been the target of an experiment without precedent in modern European warfare: a concerted Russian campaign to empty a city by stalking its residents with attack drones. Story w/ @samjoiner.bsky.social @inari-ta.bsky.social + @cen4infores.bsky.social
on.ft.com/4fTNzAL
on.ft.com/4fTNzAL
brilliant presentation on the Shiyes Protests and waste colonialism by @lenagorbacheva.bsky.social at this year’s ASEEES!
December 1, 2023 at 3:35 PM
brilliant presentation on the Shiyes Protests and waste colonialism by @lenagorbacheva.bsky.social at this year’s ASEEES!