The Russian disinformation machine has once again refreshed its disinformation narrative, portraying Poland as a country allegedly seeking to occupy western Ukraine. The narration reappeared in the information space due to the statement of a “serious authority” – this time Sergei Shoigu. It is important to mention that the narrative mentioned above was echoed, for example, in Sergei Naryshkin’s and Vladimir Putin’s communications. Hence, we are faced with another instance of employing the “serious authority” to achieve a lobbying/refreshing factor for the crucial narrative in the internal infosphere (this mechanism also enables engaging foreign media with the message).
As a result of Sergei Shoigu’s statements, the following narrative threads were refreshed:
- Poland is “considering annexation” of western Ukraine;
- Poland is “preparing a military group” that will “soon enter” Ukraine;
- Poland is a “puppet of the USA”;
- The USA “uses Poland to provoke a war” with Russia;
- Poland is a “threat” to Russia.
The discussed action is part of a long-term campaign portraying Poland as a threat to peace in the region and a direct threat to Ukraine and the so-called “Union State”. Concurrently with the aforementioned incident, the Russian-Belarusian disinformation machine disseminates content by portraying Poland as purportedly plotting an attack on Belarus.
As part of the ongoing activities, a slight discrepancy between the actions of Minsk and Moscow can be observed. It stems from aligning the shared narrative with the internal priorities of both nations. This discrepancy stems from Minsk’s emphasis on portraying Poland as a country that is “engaging in hybrid aggression” against Belarus and as a state that is “preparing for full-scale armed aggression”. Meanwhile, Moscow is emphasising Poland’s alleged preparations for “armed aggression” against Belarus and Russia, as well as a “secret operation” to occupy western Ukraine.
In the general portrayal of reality, we are confronted with a continuation of efforts to undermine the image of Poland by portraying it as a “enemy of peace” and “aggressor”, which will eventually lead to the outbreak of World War III under the “pressure from Washington”.
Minsk’s efforts in this area aim to achieve internal objectives and lend support to Russia’s external and internal activities. Moscow’s activity is concentrated on supporting Minsk’s internal goals, its own internal goals and external goals, such as deconstructing the positive image of Poland in Ukraine, as well as deprecating the image of Poland and the USA in the international arena (legitimising the narrative that presents the USA, NATO and Poland as “responsible” for the outbreak and persistence of the war in Ukraine).
Author: dr Michał Marek
Public task financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland within thegrant comp etition “Public Diplomacy 2023”
