The Russian disinformation run in Poland clearly accelerated after the dispute between Warsaw and Kiev for the memory of Volyn: according to the analysis of the PISM cited by Reuters anti-Ukrainian content in Polish increased by over 250 percent. This is simply a real test of the state's resilience, due to the fact that the Kremlin hits Polish emotions and security.
The Kremlin preys on a real dispute
The Russian disinformation run in Poland clearly accelerated after the dispute between Warsaw and Kiev for the memory of Volyn: according to the analysis of the PISM cited by Reuters anti-Ukrainian content in Polish increased by over 250 percent. This is simply a real test of the state's resilience, due to the fact that the Kremlin hits Polish emotions and security.
Reuters served August 14that the Russian operation in the Polish network uses the tension between Warsaw and Kiev concerning the Volyn crime. The subject is sacred to Poles: memory of about 100,000 victims of 1943-1945 murders. This is not to be swept under the carpet for diplomatic convenience.
And that's why you gotta call it precise. Poland has the right to request truth, exhumation, commemorative and reciprocity in relations with Ukraine. Moscow, however, is trying to make this right memory a tool of its own war. This is cynical, but typical: The Kremlin does not solve Polish problems, it only adds fuel to where the state and the elite left things besides long without a fair settlement.
Over 250 percent more content
According to Reuters, the analysis of the Polish Institute of global Affairs covered Polish-language content on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube services. Following Volodymyr Zelenski's decision to name a Ukrainian military unit after a formation associated with murderers in Poles, the number of anti-Ukrainian content in Polish was expected to increase by over 250 percent.
Deputy Minister of Digitalism Paweł Olszewski told the agency that Russian disinformation had exploded after this dispute on social media and in authoritative Russian channels, including on Telegram. Philip Bryjka of PISM, on the another hand, pointed out that a crucial part of the growth looked artificially generated by bots. The mechanics is simple: first 1 conquers emotions, then the full of Poland manages to talk with 1 burning voice.
This should not only interest the ministry of digitization. This is simply a counterintelligence, political and social issue. The fresh cases in which the Russian way appears in Poland, from sabotage to hybrid action, show that Russia treats our country as an area of operation, not as a neutral observer of war.
Polish rations without Russian whisper
The most dangerous part of this operation is that propaganda does not always gotta lie directly. He frequently takes the real fact, the real harm and the real negligence, and then imposes an explanation convenient for Moscow. The Volyn dispute is real. Fatigue part of exile policy and benefits besides exists. The problem begins erstwhile the Polish debate is to follow the rhythm dictated by Russian accounts, bots and channels of influence.
Reuters recalls the IBRiS polls: 33.6 percent of respondents were to declare a deterioration of their relation to Ukrainians after the war memorial dispute, and support for further military aid to Ukraine fell to 52% from 78% in 2022. It's data you can't underestimate. The state must treat them as a signal that Poles want a serious policy based on a national account, not on moral blackmail or on Russian street heating.
Therefore relations with Ukraine must be based on reciprocity. Polish aid in the war with Russia must not mean silence about Volyn. Polish memory of Volyn cannot become a gift to the Kremlin. There is no contradiction between these sentences. There's a Polish deal.
Elections and safety of Poles
The Russian operation has another objective: parliamentary elections in 2027. Reuters indicates that politics towards Ukrainians can become 1 of the crucial topics of the campaign. It's obvious. According to experts quoted by the agency, about 1.8-1.9 million migrants from Ukraine are present in Poland, and there are disputes about grain imports, benefits, labour marketplace and historical memory.
A democratic debate on these issues is necessary. Poles have the right to ask about costs, rules of residence, security, obligations of the state and the protection of their own market. Rulers cannot respond with the description that all criticism is pro-Russian. specified disregard for citizens itself creates susceptible ground for alien operations.
But the right wing should be peculiarly sober here. If Moscow tries to enter between Poles and Ukrainians, it is not due to the fact that it cares about the memory of Polish victims. He does this due to the fact that he wants to weaken the state's base, which is an obstacle to Russia's way of dominance in the region. Ukraine under Russian fire remains an component of our security, even if our accounts with Kiev must be set hard.
Answer: State, memory, realism
The Polish answer cannot be either naive or hysterical. There is simply a request for fast service efforts towards bot networks, transparent migration policy, fair settlement of aid costs and tough historical policy towards Kiev. These are the tasks of a state that wants to be sovereign.
The Kremlin hopes that Poles will be locked up in a false choice: either unconditional submission to Kiev or emotion pushed by Russian propaganda. We don't gotta choose any of these roads. Poland's right state is third: remember about its victims, defender our own limits of interest and not let Moscow compose a script of Polish debate.
Source: WP News
