Dogs of War: Digital Warriors Fighting Russian Disinformation and Supporting Ukraine

Since the beginning, the war for Ukraine has been the fight of everyday people. In keeping with that tradition, the North Atlantic Fellas Organization (NAFO) has taken up digital arms against the troll farms of Russia to combat Russia’s state-sponsored digital disinformation machine, a tool that fuels the war effort.

Volunteer Cyber Warriors

Supporting Ukraine’s cyber defenses through decentralized democratic forces, such as the volunteer cyber warriors of the IT Army, has been key in tipping the scales of inequality in digital warfare, supporting the physical battlelines of Ukraine’s defense effort. Much like their IT Army counterparts, the NAFO community, identified through the use of cartoon Shiba Inu dogs, make it their mission to fight Russian trolls and those who distribute Russian disinformation online.

While decentralized, NAFO forms ranks and schedules duties much like other defenders at formal cyber command posts. Users log onto social media day and night to fight Russian trolls. General duties include engaging with Russian state proxies on social media platforms and websites. Other duties include fundraising for different causes to support Ukraine, raise awareness of Ukraine’s plight and mock those promoting Russian disinformation by swarming their Twitter posts with memes.

The North Atlantic Fella Organization (NAFO) was founded by Kamil Dyszewski in the third month of Russia's war in Ukraine to combat Russian disinformation and raise funds for Ukraine's defenders. Kamil began by creating cartoon dogs, known as "fellas," to thank donors to the Georgian Legion, and NAFO quickly grew into a global community using humor and memes to support Ukraine.

The first "fella" was made on May 19, and NAFO was officially "created" on May 24, after Kamil humorously adapted the NATO badge to include a "fella." Since then, tens of thousands have joined NAFO, finding camaraderie and continuing the fundraising effort for Ukraine. Politico would go on to call NAFO a “shit posting, Twitter-trolling, dog-deploying social media army taking on Putin one meme at a time.”

Russia’s Counterattacks

RT (formerly known as Russia Today), the official Russian state media, called NAFO “a vast pro-Ukrainian ‘bot army’ designed to influence Western policymakers.

“Following RT’s attack on NAFO, the 780th Military Intelligence Brigade wrote on X: “For an online community like NAFO, hostile mention from an official propaganda outlet of its target is evidence its ridicule is achieving the desired effect.”

Experts of information warfare and communications hold high regard for NAFO’s unconventional approach, with The Economist writing that "NAFO's flippancy obscures its role as a remarkably successful form of information warfare.” Likewise, Jamie Cohen, a media studies professor at the City University of New York, said the NAFO movement “is an actual tactical event against a nation-state.”

Impact in America

It was estimated that around 126 million Americans saw Russian-backed content on Facebook during the 2016 presidential campaign. One of Vladimir Putin’s former top allies previously admitted to using troll farms to influence U.S. elections.

Troll farms are not unique to Russia. China has its own troll farm known as the “50 Cent Army.” In the event China invades Taiwan, there is a likelihood of democratic forces on the Internet meeting on the online information battlefields to defend Taiwan.

The U.S. has also attempted to leverage troll farms to counter foreign influences. It was alleged that the CIA initiated a covert operation aimed at undermining Chinese officials by using leaked intelligence and negative news on social media to sway public opinion against them.

However, as evidenced by the failure of these attempts, nation-states do not have the same capacity to organize effective troll farms in the way ordinary civilians do. Civilian efforts are motivated by a common enthusiasm that can operate outside the channels by which governments are restricted.

Decentralized Communities: an Emerging Force

NAFO has no central leadership or rigid structure due to its decentralized nature. There are no ring leaders that Russian intelligence can target to bring down NAFO.

Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Australia, said:

“NAFO is impossible to undermine,” he said. “It is decentralized; it’s just a group of random people.”

The group’s decentralized nature makes it resilient and largely immune to outside interference, as individuals are united by the cause to support Ukraine. People around the world engage by logging on to social media and posting memes, contributing to the fight in their own unique ways.

While the U.S. Congress was divided and debating aid for Ukraine, Russian disinformation played a significant role in influencing Congress members’ opinions of the aid bill, and thereby  delaying the support. In December 2023, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis stated that discussions on Ukraine aid were stalled due to concerns from some lawmakers that “people will buy yachts with this money.”

This concern was fueled by a popular disinformation narrative propagated by Russian intelligence services, which spread widely across the internet, even duping two Republicans. The narrative even reached U.S. House Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who retweeted the misleading information, helping to spread anti-Ukrainian sentiment.

A Status Quo Disrupted

Over the past decade, Russia has employed its highly effective hybrid warfare strategy. By publishing false stories, manipulating social media, and utilizing state-controlled media outlets like RT to spread propaganda, Russia has been able to disseminate lies at an alarming rate. Research from MIT shows thatfake news on Twitter (X) spreads six times faster than the truth.

Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, writing the foreword in the upcoming book Vatnik Soup - The Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation, wrote:

“Russian agents have always lied. They lied in the past. They are lying now. Times are changing, but Russian lies are not. Surprisingly, in today's fast-paced and transparent world of digital technologies, it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish lies and disinformation from the truth. Especially when it is your eternal enemy who spreads this manipulation and who has reached great heights in the art of manipulation over a century of such activity.”

Russia’s status quo of distributing disinformation has been disrupted by the inception of NAFO’s unconventional cyber warfare methods, which have made an impact since early in the war. In the war’s wee hours, NAFO operatives took down the campaign of Russia’s top diplomat in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, who was spreading disinformation. In a fit of anger, Ulyanov responded to someone whose image was a cartoon dog with a tweet with the now-infamous phrase:

“You pronounced this nonsense, not me.” Vice News ran a story with the headline afterward: “Shitposting Shiba Inu Accounts Chased a Russian Diplomat Offline.” Ulyanov’s words became a meme, and his popularity spurred online merchandise sales.

World leaders also began paying tribute to the NAFO movement. Ukraine’s Minister of Defence, Oleksii Reznikov’s changed his profile picture to a NAFO fella. On August 30, 2022, he wrote on X, “My personal salute to #NAFOfellas. I’d like to thank each person behind Shiba Inu cartoon. Your donations to support our defenders, your fight VS misinformation is valuable. I’m changing my profile picture for a few days.”

Other leaders who have shown support include the former President of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Iives, current Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, former U.S. House Representative Adam Kinzinger and Admiral Rob Bauer, Chair of the Military Committee of NATO.

Fundraising Impact

In 2022, the NAFO fellas successfully raised over $250,000 through UNITED24 to fund naval drones for Ukraine, following President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's call to support the initiative. Meanwhile, as the Russian army retreated from the city of Kherson, footage emerged online showing Russian forces stealing animals from the local zoo, including a raccoon, which Russian soldiers were taking pictures with. The theft of animals struck a nerve within the community, and they named the fundraiser Raccoon’s Revenge.

Following the successful fundraiser, UNITED24 posted on X: “You did it, you magnificent doggos! As of this morning, $255,546 for the #NAFOdrone has been raised! Thank you to every fella for making this happen, for every #nafofleet, every donation. Raccoon’s Revenge is non-negotiable, thanks to each one of you.” Ukraine has exercised an ongoing effort utilizing sea drones not only to attack Russian positions in Crimea and the Black Sea but also to win the battle for the Black Sea.

At the time of this report, Ukraine’s tactics in the Black Sea region had proved successful, as Russia's fleet had withdrawn from Crimea, a position it held since 2014.

Additionally, the NAFO Squad drone fundraiser amassed over $420,000 to purchase 240 attack drones aimed at striking Russian targets. On the fundraiser site UNITED24, the call to action for NAFO fellas was written, “Let’s bonk some trash that should’ve never come to Ukraine.”

The Power of Memes

Memes not only play a crucial role in ridiculing disinformation but also serve as a powerful tool for fundraising to support battlefield efforts.

Speaking with Frontsight, Paul Lushenko, Assistant Professor and Director of Special Operations at the U.S. Army War College, analyzed the efficiency of combining fundraising efforts with other forms of online engagement. In Lushenko’s view, the correlation between fundraising campaigns such as the NAFO group-speared Racoon’s Revenge and real success online is “anecdotal.”

“Memes are helpful to bolster public support,” Lushenko said, expressing the view that memes targeting the destruction of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet can play the role of undermining Putin’s war effort in that territory.“

They could also increase the morale of Ukrainian citizens,” he said.

“Memes will continue to play a supporting role to what goes on the battlefield,” said Lushenko. Prior research from Lushenko showed that memes are also “designed to shape the attitudes of domestic and international audiences.”

NAFO’s War on Disinformation

In an interview with Frontsight media, Pekka Kallioniemi, who is a disinformation expert and runs "vatniksoup," which provides analysis of Russian propaganda and its actors, said that, in his view, “NAFO is the most effective social media movement ever.” Kallioniemi explained that by using memes and ridiculing Russian disinformation and propaganda, NAFO’s methods turn the Kremlin’s weapons against themselves.

When someone posts Russian disinformation content online, there is “a high volume of messages from NAFO activists that ridicules the messenger, not the message,” he said. By doing this, NAFO takes the credibility away from them and their message of promoting disinformation and Russian propaganda.

The Official_NAFO account on X posted in July 2023 that, “What these Russian politicians don’t understand is that every second they spend arguing with dogs online or worrying about their “online harassment” with shark memes is seconds taken away from their focus on Ukraine. This is what we want.”

NAFO’s Clash With American Lawmakers

Republican Senator Mike Lee also embarked on various fights with NAFO fellas in 2023. Lee grew frustrated due to NAFO fells flooding his Twitter polls on whether the U.S. should send aid to Ukraine. While attacking NAFO, he linked a pro-Kremlin website to promote his argument. Mike Lee also wrote that NAFO is the “Best propaganda government money can buy!” This, in return, created more memes and fostered more ridicule upon him.

Speaking to Frontsight Media over Twitter (X), SupFellas, commented, “The fact that a U.S. senator, who can avail himself of credible information (should he choose to do so), believes that NAFO is a CIA operation underscores the need and value for grassroots activism against disinformation.”

Elbridge Colby, a former member of Trump’s administration, took issue with NAFO and was also met with ridicule earlier this year for his post about NAFO and Ukraine. Following the successful trolling of Colby, a NAFO fella who goes by the username “osint_69,” said, “Next stop the Senator from Ohio,” referencing J.D. Vance. Vance, known for his pro-Russia rhetoric, has been selected as Donald Trump’s running mate in the upcoming presidential election. He previously said that he doesn’t "really care what happens to Ukraine, one way or the other."

Future of Decentralized Information Warfare

Due to there being no leaders in NAFO, Kallioniemi reasons that the organization cannot be brought down or dismantled in a traditional sense. Even if a figure is targeted by Russia, bringing it down will have no impact on the larger community.

He pointed out that he has already been the victim of character assassination attempts, along with Kamil Dyszewski the founder of NAFO, according to Kallioniemi.

“With NAFO, you can’t take leaders out from the movement because there are none,” he said.

The disinformation wars between Ukraine and Russia have a wide-reaching impact on the minds of analysts. For example, if China were to invade Taiwan, Kallioniemi believes that there would be another decentralized movement similar to NAFO that would arise to defend Taiwan. “The language barrier would be stronger, but the next movement would take the strong part of NAFO and make it even better,” he said.

Kallioniemi believes that NAFO is on an evolutionary course, just like drones in the Russo-Ukrainian war, “It’s a matter of trial and error to improve NAFO,” Kallioniemi said, highlighting that once one party invents something new, another party counters that.

“It’s an evolutionary process; it’s difficult to predict the future,” he added.

As the war wears on, it continues to be the fight of the people, with defenders rallying around toy drones and duct-taped bombs as citizen and uniformed fighters find increasingly decentralized and creative ways to combat the enemy, with anticipation that more groups like NAFO will emerge.