There’s something fitting about the term “vatnik” — derogatory Russian slang for pro-Kremlin loyalists — because whether by accident or design, it translates eerily well to a concept from another place and time: the "cotton rebel."
You see, vatnik originally referred to a quilted cotton jacket, the kind worn by Soviet workers, soldiers and prisoners alike. But over time, it came to symbolize a particular kind of person: the diehard, unthinking supporter of an authoritarian regime. The one who cheers for repression, worships the state and believes everything their TV tells them.
