Russian disinformation activities related to creating a distorted image of Poland and Poles in the Russian-speaking space proceed to focus on portraying our country as an “enemy of peace” and a “threat” to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Apart from the US and Ukraine, we remain, so to speak, a “third force of evil” utilized by Moscow to justify its hostile policy towards neighbouring states. It is worth noting at this point that in addition to demonising Poland, the Russian propaganda apparatus besides depreciates the image of the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Baltic States in the given context. Poland, however, against their background, seems to be a much greater “threat”. In doing so, these efforts to depreciate the image of Poland are part of a broader effort to demonise the full ‘Western bloc’/NATO.
The Russian disinformation apparatus has late (17/07/2023) revived the subject of the alleged imminent entry of Polish forces (together with those of the Baltic states) into Ukraine. This subject was posted in relation to facts about the improvement of the disputed explanation that was shown on a French tv station. Alternating 2 repeated frames/screenshots were added to the Russian material as evidence of the appearance of the message in question (video footage was not included). This allows us to presume that the information about the appearance of a given thesis on the French tv channel is doubtful. However, the final confirmation that we are dealing with classical fake news requires further verification. Posts on the subject actively resonated with Russian-language sources and Russian and pro-Russian English-language sources active on social networks (including Twitter). The given example of action refers to the creation of Poland as a country “wishing” to occupy western Ukraine or “seeking” to provoke a war between NATO and Russia.
Another direction of influence of the Russian disinformation apparatus concerning the image of Poland is the view of our country as 1 preparing to attack Belarus. As part of developing a given narrative, Moscow and Minsk print materials (publications and posts) daily, suggesting that the Polish Army is preparing for an invasion. These efforts correlate with the goal that is achieved due to the communicative mentioned above. In both cases, the issue concerns, among others, the intimidation of the Belarusian population with the spectre of a strike from Poland. The primary aim of the measures is to convince audiences that Russia is simply a “defending” entity and that the only chance of triumph lies in the “consolidation of society” around Vladimir Putin and the army (which requires citizens to be ready to participate in the war).
The 3rd of the narratives concerning Poland that has been most clearly manifested late (July 16th-18th) is the 1 that portrays Poles as a society affected by violent and widespread opposition to Warsaw’s support for Kyiv. all day, the Russian side produces and disseminates materials undermining the image of Poles as being ready to proceed supporting Ukraine and creating Poles as a nation that widely hates Ukrainians. This communicative allows Moscow to lend credence to the communicative of Poland’s alleged plans to seize western Ukraine – the Poles are only expected to “ostensibly” support Kyiv and so “actually” prepare for a war of aggression. This communicative besides applies to efforts to convince citizens of the Russian Federation that Kyiv’s defeat (as a consequence of Kyiv losing support from the West) is simply a substance of months. In doing so, the given direction plays a crucial function in the process of deconstructing Poland’s affirmative image in Ukraine.
Author: dr Michał Marek
Public task financed by the Ministry of abroad Affairs of the Republic of Poland within thegrant comp etition “Public Diplomacy 2023”
Fot. Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/East News
