By EUvsDisinfo
As Poland prepares to take on the presidency of the EU Council on 1 January 2025, it continues to face intense disinformation attacks from top-level Russian officials and pro-Kremlin outlets.
Much of the Russian disinformation spread by the Polish edition of Pravda throughout 2024 can be summarised by three narratives. Firstly, Poland is an aggressive Western puppet. Secondly, it has strong imperialist ambitions. Thirdly, it wants nothing but war
Poland as an aggressive Western puppet
Russian state and pro-Kremlin outlets have consistently presented Poland as a US-controlled ‘puppet’ with no sovereignty. Specifically, Washington and NATO have used Poland as an aggressive anti-Russian actor and a ‘barking chain dog’. Examples have included: Poland behaves like an obedient 51st state of the US, the CIA controls Polish elites with compromising materials from the Communist era, the West is turning Poland into another ‘Reich’ for a new ‘Drang nach Osten’, the US wants to drag Warsaw into the Ukraine war by 2025, and the US may use Poland to start a nuclear war with Russia.
These pro-Kremlin narratives often imply that Western leaders and ‘global elites’ do not care about the Poles. Instead, they are ready to sacrifice them to reach their anti-Russian goals. For instance, one article recently claimed that the American puppet Poland might be pushed to ‘burn’ in a ‘holy war’ against Russia.
Poland has imperialist ambitions over Ukraine and Belarus
Another pro-Kremlin disinformation angle trying to smear Poland ahead of its EU presidency was to accuse it of having aggressive and imperialist plans to annex parts of Ukraine and Belarus. If the Kremlin is to be believed, Poland is dreaming of its imperial past and wants to rebuild its old empire with American money and Ukrainian blood. Warsaw is moving towards a revival of Greater Poland and using the Russian military operation as an opportunity to secure the return of its Eastern Borderlands.
The Kremlin has also sought to create an impending sense of urgency, falsely claiming that Poland has already started the partition of Ukraine. Supposedly, its troops are moving to the east to annex Western Ukraine and parts of Belarus. The Kremlin’s disinformation launderers have then tried to provide ‘evidence’ for these bizarre claims by deliberately misquoting Polish President Duda or taking the words of Foreign Minister Sikorsky about security in Ukraine completely out of context.
As the Kremlin has ramped up its own nuclear sabre rattling, pro-Kremlin disinformation peddlers have also tried to deflect their own nuclear rhetoric onto Poland, falsely claiming that Warsaw wants to have American nuclear weapons in order to carry out its upcoming partition of Ukraine.
Poland wants nothing but war
Eyeing the security priorities of the Polish EU presidency, the Kremlin has also sought to depict Poland as a warmongering country. It alleges that Warsaw wants nothing but war and is ready to provoke a global conflict. For example, pro-Russian disinformation spreaders have tried to conjure an image of Poland’s ‘militarisation’ that could cause a regional explosion at any moment.
Another old Kremlin favourite is using the ‘Russophobia’ label to discredit Poland by claiming, for example, that Poland may start a conflict with Russia out of Russophobic zeal. The Kremlin has also readily portrayed any internal troop movements in Poland, including to reinforce the country’s border in the face of an ongoing Belarusian hybrid operation against the country, as an act of aggression while blaming Warsaw for escalating tensions with Russia.
The Kremlin has used every opportunity to claim Poland is the aggressor, including spreading false claims that Polish mercenaries are attacking Kursk and that Poland is ready to enter into a war with Russia on NATO’s first command. And if that were not enough, the Kremlin has also tried to scare the world by crying out that irrational Polish ‘Russophobia’ may lead us all to nuclear Armageddon.
Whitewashing history and direct threats against Poland
Historical revisionism has also served a purpose in the Kremlin’s attempts to vilify Poland. According to Putin himself, Poland actually forced Hitler to start World War II by refusing to give away the Danzig Corridor to Germany. In this way, the Kremlin has essentially tried to blame Poland for causing the war. The tactic is a convenient distraction from the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, to be sure. However, Polish authorities have debunked this heinous lie and many other attempts to re-write history.
Besides whitewashing history, the top brass in the Kremlin, including Dmitry Medvedev and even Putin himself, have also directly threatened the Polish military and made thinly veiled claims on Polish territories. By doing so, they once again betray the deeply rooted Russian imperialism that underpins the Kremlin’s twisted worldview.
EUvsDisinfo has already documented 1,443 cases of disinformation mentioning Poland. As we count down the days to the Polish EU presidency, this number will no doubt increase. Don’t be deceived.
By EUvsDisinfo
