US Navy vet accused of spreading Pentagon leak is back online: ‘A fabulous makeover’

A US Navy veteran who has been accused of spreading leaked Pentagon files is reportedly back online, continuing to spread disinformation as she shares her support for Russian military operations in Ukraine.

Sarah Bils — a 38-year-old New Jersey native, who was outed in April as “Donbass Devushka,” an online personality behind a vast network of pro-Kremlin blogs, podcasts and fundraising accounts — has relaunched the pages under the name “DD Geopolitics,” according to the Daily Mail.

A post on the Telegram page in July read: “Donbas Devushka hasn’t pulled a disappearing act, she’s just had a fabulous makeover.

“Rest assured, the same bunch of weirdos is still running the show behind the scenes.”

That post linked back to another page, saying, “You can read Sarah’s statement regarding the rebranding here.”

In that post, a user who identified herself as Bils said: “As you know, the last two months have been a trying time for this community, and for myself, particularly.

“Without getting into too much personal detail, the amount of stress and the things that I have lost are bigger than most can imagine,” she wrote.

“Let’s be clear, this was not because of a ‘lie’ or because I previously served in the Navy. This was because myself and all of you present an alternative world view.

“Which brings me to my next point, the team. This channel and all of its subsidiaries have always been maintained by a collective team. It was never one person.

“After the recent events, for my own personal safety and well-being, we have decided to make sure that it is better known that this is a community and always has been.”

In a number of posts on the page, Bils and several unidentified co-hosts rail against the United States’ support of Ukraine, garnering more than 200,000 followers along the way, the Daily Mail reported.

Several posts parrot the Kremlin line, with followers encouraged to donate to the Russian army and the Wagner militia.

In one post on September 4, the user believed to be Bils lashed out at the US, blaming successive administrations for its “constant meddling” and provoking the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

She went on to repeat the debunked claim that the US government and its allies “manufactured” two revolutions in the country.

Among the page’s many followers are Moscow’s envoy to the United Nations and Alexander Dugin, a far-right political philosopher who has been described as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “brain” on foreign policy.

It has also been praised by pro-Kremlin bloggers in Russia, including the Wagner-linked Ryber Telegram channel.

The Department of Justice declined to comment.

Pekka Kallioniemi, a researcher of Russian disinformation at the University of Tampere in Finland, told the Daily Mail he found the new accounts “surprising.”

“I find it surprising that the FBI appears to be turning a blind eye to the online activities of people who are clearly working on behalf of America’s enemies,” he said.

Bils was first identified as the person behind the “Donbass Devushka” page by a group of pro-Ukraine online sleuths, known as the North Atlantic Fella Organization (NAFO).

It revealed her true identity after comparing footage from Bils’ Donbass Devushka broadcasts with a June 2020 interview she had using her real identity with the Aquarium Co-op Podcast, where she voiced her expertise in and love for tropical fish.

During the interview, NAFO found Bils had the same voice as her pro-Russian persona, as well as home decor similar to that in Donbass Devushka’s postings.

NAFO also found that Bils’ birthday matched Donbass Devushka’s online solicitations for birthday donations from her followers.

But Bils has previously denied any wrongdoing, saying the leaked documents were posted by another administrator on her site, claiming there were about 14 others “all over the world” who ran her vast network.

“I obviously know the gravity of top-secret classified materials. We didn’t leak them,” she told the Wall Street Journal.

https://nypost.com/2023/09/11/navy-vet-accused-of-spreading-pentagon-leak-is-back-online/