On September 24-25, Georgian-language Facebook pages (1, 2, 3.), including the page “Supporters of the Alliance of Patriots,” published a post according to which NATO senior official Günther Fehlinger said that NATO should bomb Belgrade. Part of the posts indicate the publicist.ge article as the source, where it is mentioned that Fehlinger is the chairman of the European Development Committee of NATO.
The claim that Günther Fehlinger is a senior NATO official is disinformation. In fact, he is the founder of the non-governmental organization “European Committee for NATO Enlargement for Ukraine, Kosovo, Bosnia and EU Countries,” which has no connection with NATO.
Gunther Fellinger’s Facebook and X (former Twitter) accounts note that he is the founder of the non-governmental organization “European Committee for NATO Enlargement for Ukraine, Kosovo, Austria, Armenia, Moldova and the EU.”
On his LinkedIn page, Fehlinger states that since December 2022, he has been self-employed as the president of the “Austrian Committee for NATO Membership of Austria, Bosnia, Kosovo, Ukraine and the European Union.”
On LinkedIn, Fehlinger lists a number of work experiences, none of which are related to NATO. Also, the work experience gained in NATO is not recorded on his Facebook page either.
Notably, misinterpretations about Günter Fehlinger’s workplace have been spread in the past as well. In particular, in September of this year, he called on Nikol Pashinyan on social networks for Armenia to join NATO, in response to which the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Vahan Kostanyan, said that Armenia has not received an invitation to join NATO, because Fehlinger is not a representative of NATO and he is only the head of the organization, the name of which simply includes NATO.
Günter Fehlinger repeatedly called on NATO to attack Serbia through social networks, which, according to him, should be done in order to protect Kosovo in the event of a war.
About the Source:
Ermile Nemsadze is a former military, and he was a member of the far-right group “Georgian March.” He is infamous for spreading hate speech and anti-Western messages on Facebook. The disinformation spread by him has been debunked by “Myth Detector” many times in the past.
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