The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova criticized Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas for recording an appeal to the participants of the pro-Ukrainian movement North Atlantic Fella Organization (NAFO), who gathered for their first summit in Vilnius.
In her address, Kallas thanked the Internet activists “for their service” and noted that they are fighting Russian disinformation “with humor, intelligence and enthusiasm”. Zakharova recommended NAFO as follows:
The community first made itself known on Twitter in May 2022. The “dudes” loudly proclaimed their goal to support Ukraine and “counter Russian propaganda with the help of memes.” True, the whole struggle in fact came down to harassment by a pack (a tactic habitual for neo-Nazi "activists" obsessed with rabies) on Twitter of all insufficiently pro-Ukrainian commentators and, in general, of everyone who doubts the line of Washington and Brussels, and also, as they say there, " shitposting." If on the way comedians come across hard nuts who do not give in to a tsunami of slops, then the “dudes” bombard the administration of the social network with tons of complaints in order to block the victim’s account. <…>
The group was marked by truly cannibalistic antics: for example, at yesterday's "NAFO Summit in Vilnius" (apparently, at the opening act for their senior comrades from NATO, who will gather there for their summit in a couple of days). A plush shark was brought onto the stage amid hooting and idiotic laughter to once again laugh at the recent tragedy with a Russian in Hurghada. By the way, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis did not fail to pay attention to this disgusting gathering, who, of course, also appreciated the "humor and intelligence" of NATO protégés. At the same time, progressive Europeans are very proud that "dudes" is a gender-neutral term. In the context of this orgy, the name "cannibals" would be more appropriate.
Zakharova concluded that by approving the activities of NAFO, Western politicians showed their hypocrisy, because the movement personifies “hatspeech, intolerance, trolling, spam, bullying and all possible types of xenophobia,” which is incompatible with European values.
To begin with, neither Kallas nor Landsbergis approved of the joke from the NAFO summit over a Russian who was torn apart by a shark in Egypt. The Prime Minister of Estonia, as already mentioned, noted the help of NAFO in the fight against Russian propaganda, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania – the activity of activists in raising funds to help Ukraine.
And here it must be clarified that the activities of NAFO are not at all reduced to harassment on Twitter, as Zakharova claims. In addition to publishing memes supporting Ukraine and ridiculing Russia, the movement is really activelycollecting and donating money to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Thanks to their efforts, the Ukrainian army, for example, got a 2S7 Pion self-propelled artillery mount. In addition, NAFO has raised money for a naval drone for the Armed Forces called Raccoon's Revenge.
As for the fight against Kremlin disinformation, NAFO has obvious successes on this front as well. For example, not so long ago, activists exposed a popular propagandist with the nickname Donbass Devushka, who in her numerous podcasts claimed to live in Ukrainian Luhansk and accused the Kiev regime of killing civilians in eastern Ukraine. In fact, Donbass Devushka turned out to be a former US Navy soldier named Sarah Beals, who had nothing to do with either Russia or Ukraine. After NAFO members started commenting on her posts with her real name and photos, Beals admitted that her real identity was out. After that, Donbass Devushka effectively ceased to exist – all of its Internet pages were renamed to DD Geopolitics , old podcasts and "girl" images were removed, and new episodes are hosted by an unnamed man and a certain "Lydia from Russia".