Kaja Kallas forced to dismiss viral April Fools’ NATO joke

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas shot down an April Fools’ hoax which said she had “won the backing of the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom to become the next secretary general of NATO.”

The joke, which went viral after first being published by Estonian World — a London-based online magazine writing about Estonians around the world — also noted that Kallas would be the first woman and the first from Central and Eastern Europe to lead the military alliance.

Congratulations poured in, with one prominent commentator, historian Timothy Garton Ash, said on X (formerly Twitter) that “this is excellent news — and sends an important message to Putin’s Russia … ” (his post is no longer available).

Shortly afterwards, Kallas stepped in to quell the tsunami of gullibility, replying to Garton Ash, “This was somebody’s April fools joke. Not true.”

Last month, Kallas jokingly denied that she ate “Russians for breakfast,” after one anonymous European Union official had attributed unbending anti-Moscow positions to her.

“The fact that this April fools joke generated so much attention and support shows the strong voice of  Kaja Kallas  on the European strategic scene,” said former top NATO official Camille Grand on X.

Silver Tambur, a publisher at Estonian World, told POLITICO the article’s aim was to increase public attention for Kallas’ NATO bid. “That was part of what we wanted to do, and I am happy about the attention the story got,” he said.

Speaking at the POLITICO Defense Summit in November, Kallas said she was interested in taking over the top job at NATO as the Cold War-era alliance continues to navigate Russia’s war in Ukraine, along with homing in on common strategies against China and other emerging threats.

The term of current NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, who led the military alliance since 2014, will end in October this year.

The new head of NATO will be appointed this summer and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is in pole position to take over the job after receiving endorsement from Washington, London, Paris and Berlin.