Russian special services have intensified a large-scale disinformation campaign in Poland, using historical disputes between Warsaw and Kyiv to create divisions between allies.
This is reported by Reuters.
According to an analysis by the Polish Institute of International Affairs, the volume of anti-Ukrainian content in Polish on social networks X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube has increased by more than 250%. Deputy Minister of Digitization of Poland, Paweł Olszewski, stated that after a public dispute arose, Russian disinformation literally “exploded” on social media and official Russian media platforms, and later these narratives were picked up by some Polish media.
Experts note a change in tactics: a significant portion of content is generated by bot farms to create an illusion of mass outrage among Poles. Meanwhile, Russians rarely invent fake news but rather distort and exaggerate real contentious facts. Due to the presence of a real basis, such manipulations are much harder to detect and block. Olszewski emphasized that the flow of disinformation “fell on receptive ground.” The Russian embassy in Warsaw stated that the accusations are “groundless.”
Recall that at the end of May, diplomatic tensions arose between Ukraine and Poland after Zelensky awarded an honorary title to one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces special units as “Heroes of UPA.” In Poland, the UPA is considered responsible for the Volyn tragedy of 1943-1945, recognized as the genocide of the Polish population.
