Russian Propaganda

Russia is carrying out targeted information campaigns to discredit Ukrainian refugees in Poland in order to make Warsaw withdraw its support for Kyiv

Since the beginning of their unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, the Russian Federation has been actively spreading disinformation about Ukrainian refugees who are forced to stay in EU countries due to the hostilities.

The most serious disinformation campaigns are carried out by Russia in those countries which have received the largest number of Ukrainians, in particular Poland.

They aim to weaken Polish-Ukrainian relations by creating contradictions between the two nations, to reduce Warsaw's support for further humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine, and to accuse Poland of an allegedly provocative policy towards Moscow.

Various pro-Russian groups are active in Poland and have stepped up their activities to incite anti-migration protests, as well as to obtain information about the movement of Western military equipment for Ukraine. Recently, Polish security services identified and detained three Russian agents who had been monitoring the supply of weapons to Ukraine and preparing sabotage on railway tracks near Rzeszow.

An entire spy group of Russian hackers Nobelium was also detained in Poland in April, launching a large-scale campaign against foreign ministries and diplomatic institutions in NATO and EU countries.

In the Polish segment of social networks, in particular on Twitter, information is spread that the Polish government allocates more funds for Ukrainian refugees than for its own homeless people. By disseminating such fake news, the authors of the messages clearly play to the Russian gallery and try to convince their audience that Polish authorities treat Ukrainians better than their own citizens.

To achieve the maximum psychological effect, Russian propagandists refer to pro-Russian Polish nationalist experts and politicians, and representatives of Polish radical circles.

Since August 2022, the #StopUkrainizacjiPolski campaign has been running on Twitter at the initiative of the right-wing movement Confederation of the Polish Crown. It is a movement loyal to the Russian Federation that uses anti-Ukrainian migration rhetoric for its electoral purposes, as elections to the Polish parliament will be held this autumn.

Today, all EU countries are the target of Russian espionage and disinformation campaigns. Russia continues to try to influence Europeans' perceptions of the war in Ukraine. It is important to focus on levelling Russian propaganda in the European information space.