The NAFO Fellas Are As Mighty As Ever, And They’re Ready to Fight Russian Propaganda

If you use Twitter (aka X), you have probably come across at least one account with a profile picture of a Shiba Inu dog, ferociously posting about Ukraine. But it is no coincidence that a bunch of accounts are using such profile pictures. That is because they serve a bigger purpose—they support Ukraine. 

But who are the Shiba Inu fellas really? Where do they come from? And what do they do? We have you covered.

The Origin Story 

They call themselves NAFO, the North Atlantic Fella Organization, a play on NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They’re a virtual community providing support for Ukraine not only online by fighting disinformation but also in real life by raising funds to buy supplies for Ukrainian units and volunteer organizations. But how do they actually do that?

It all started when Kamil Dyszewski (@Kama_Kamilia) from Poland created a profile picture modeled after the Shiba Inu "doge" meme—in May of 2022. The doge profile pictures started appearing in memes associated with the war in Ukraine, so other Twitter users approached Kama to create similar profile pictures for them as well.

Then, Kama and other NAFO founding members came up with the idea of making these profile photos for others in exchange for donations to Ukrainian organizations.

The donations went to the Georgian Legion, a military unit formed mostly of Georgian volunteers fighting on the Ukrainian side. And so on May 24th of 2022, NAFO was officially established.

The Forge

The forge crew, who worked on creating the Shiba Inu profile pictures, seriously grew during the summer of 2022. They enlisted over 100 volunteers and delivered hundreds of fella profile pictures a day. 

On May 24, 2023, NAFO celebrated its one-year anniversary and marked over 100,000 followers on Twitter and over 30000 fellas at the forge.

The exponential growth in the number of fellas called for a more centralized approach, thus creating the Official NAFO account on Twitter and later a website, which helps the new fellas network, find trustworthy charities to donate to and follow the latest news.

Mission

The Russian war in Ukraine is not just physical but also informational. This is where NAFO stepped in and took action to counter Russian propaganda on social media, using humor—in particular memes.

NAFO has its own Article 5, just like the North Atlantic Treaty, NATO’s founding document, which states that an attack on any NATO member in Europe or North America "shall be considered an attack against them all."

The NAFO members bombard pro-Russian accounts online with memes and viral videos, using their “NAFOarticle5” hashtag to summon other fellas.

The remarkable success of NAFO has been so notable that RT, the Russian state-controlled television network, attempted to undermine NAFO's credibility by branding it as a pro-Ukrainian "bot army."

NAFO Expansion

With the NAFO community growing, many political and media figures started to join the ranks, including Paul Massaro, the Staff Director of the Helsinki Commission, former President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov, and Polish TV presenter Jonasz Rewiński.

Many worldwide publications wrote articles dedicated to NAFO and their work, including Politico, The Economist, CNN, and much more. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has even tweeted a “thank you” post to the fellas for their tireless fight against Russian propaganda. 

Fundraisings

NAFO has conducted multiple fundraising campaigns, raising impressive amounts of money, including through its 69th Sniffing Brigade Fund, which tirelessly orchestrates fundraising efforts and logistical support to various Ukrainian units.

The funds are raised by NAFO fellas selling patches, art prints, and other merch items. At the beginning of 2023, NAFO opened a merch shop selling designs made by fellas and donating the profits from the purchases to Ukrainian defenders. The shop partnered with U24, the official fundraising platform of Ukraine, Liberty Ukraine Foundation, the Front Line Kitchen, and others.

One of NAFO’s latest campaigns and one of the biggest fundraisers to date is NAFO’s collaboration with Jake Broe, a United States Air Force veteran with a YouTube channel where he publishes regular updates on the situation in Ukraine.

In 2024, the organization is still going strong in its fight against Russia. NAFO is a wonderful example of how people from around the globe in the 21st century can gather virtually to make a change in the real world.