Vatnik

The word "vatnik" was originally an informal term for a telogreika, a type of gray, cotton-stuffed quilted jacket that is seen as "a cheap, highly unglamorous item of clothing".

Russian linguist Gasan Guseinov, speaking about the jacket, said, "A vatnik is a garment of poor, destitute people who possess nothing else and who are ready to wear it for the rest of their lives.

[7][8][9] His associated picture of an anthropomorphic version of the "vatnik" jacket similar to the title character of SpongeBob SquarePants was posted on VK for the first time on September 9, 2011.

Features that are consistently included are gray color, a red nose from drinking vodka, and a black eye, presumably from a fistfight with another vatnik.

[21][22] When a disabled Russian T-72 was publicly displayed in Vilnius in February 2023, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda emphasised using it to "see the vatniks" who came to mourn its capture.

[23] The word also exists in Ukrainian as ватник (vatnyk), in Belarusian as ватнік (vatnik), in Latvian as (vatņiks), in Lithuanian as (vatnikas), in Czech as vaťák, and in Polish as waciak.

[24][25] The word mobik (from моб(илизо́ванный) (mob(ilizóvannyj), “mobilized”) + -ик (-ik, diminutive suffix) is a derogatory slang term for a mobilised soldier, usually in the Russian military.