Russian propaganda remains consistent in its strategy of broad coverage of global affairs while simultaneously utilizing them to illustrate its overall mark narratives. Each informational occasion or event is utilized as a brick in building Russian propaganda. The election in Poland in 2023 was no exception.
In the context of the Polish election, Russian propaganda developed 2 crucial narratives. Firstly, this is the negative impact of democratic election on the long-term prospects of politics in general, harm to democracy, and the turnover of elections. Secondly, this is the inevitability of the cessation of support for Ukraine over time, which should, in turn, lead to Russia’s triumph in the war.
Within the communicative about the election in Poland promoted by Russian propaganda, its impact on Ukraine is simply a fundamental component. The war forces Russian propaganda to return to the subject of Ukraine again and again in a variety of contexts. Naturally, Russian propagandists pay attention to affirmative scenarios for Moscow and opportunities to gain an advantage and win the war. 1 specified script is the decline of global support for Ukraine, in peculiar from Poland. By setting its mark audience in a affirmative temper and instilling assurance in victory, Russian propaganda is looking for signs of imminent triumph and the implementation of affirmative scenarios for how the events unfold.
At the same time, Russian propaganda regularly elaborates on the regime’s general narratives, which relate not only to abroad but besides to home policy. In this case, global news serves only as an illustration to show the appropriateness of the political structure of Russia, where the political stableness of the government makes it impossible for an abrupt collapse of any politics due to the election results. This communicative contrasts politically unchangeable Russia with the supposedly weak and internally divided democracies of the West exhausted by the political struggle.
Under these conditions, continued support for Ukraine in the context of a change of power in Poland is presented by Russian propaganda as doubtful. The election, in terms of this approach, cannot promise anything good – it is either instability in abroad policy or further negative manifestations of the current policy. Thus, Russian propaganda, utilizing the discussion of the election in Poland, promotes the thought of the negative nature of the elections and the change of power.
When considering the election, Russian propaganda focuses on the negative aspects of Polish-Ukrainian relations, declaring that Ukraine’s conflict with the Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc) organization “goes deep into history.” Accordingly, taking this into account, relations between Kyiv and Warsaw should deteriorate greatly in the future. At the same time, the attention is focused on points that can unite representatives of different Polish parties in the context of a negative attitude towards Ukraine, specified as conflicts of the past or grain export issues. erstwhile considering interior issues in Poland, the relations between parties and approaches to politics stay an essential part of the Russian propaganda communicative on Ukraine and the ways to defeat it.
Speaking about the election in Poland, Russian propaganda pays peculiar attention to the “Confederation.” erstwhile describing its political approach regarding Ukraine, Russian media call it neutral and objective.
In the condition of a prolonged war of attrition, Russia, in particular, counts on the depletion of global support for Ukraine. Under specified circumstances, the main hope of propaganda is not so much the triumph of a certain “anti-Ukrainian party” in the election but alternatively chaos and uncertainty. Russian propaganda, engaged in negative advertisement of democratic election, in all possible way promotes the thought of the risks associated with it, specified as the collapse of long-term politics and interior political struggle.
Given the impossibility of openly promoting its interests in Polish home politics, Russia hopes for the weakening of Poland due to its interior political conflict and the weakness of the future coalition government. The main expected consequence of specified “weakness” for Russia should be weakening support for Ukraine and gaining additional chances to win the war. At the same time, within the propaganda narrative, it is the democratic election that should weaken the enemy and lead to triumph over it. Thus, the Russian Federation must accomplish a abroad policy triumph through an ideological triumph while demonstrating the advantage of a dictatorial government over democracies utilizing propaganda.
Author: Denys Moskalyk
Public task financed by the Ministry of abroad Affairs of the Republic of Poland within thegrant comp etition “Public Diplomacy 2023”
