DISINFO: Increasingly Nazifying Poland is eyeing Belarusian and Ukrainian lands
SUMMARY
Poland is not only accelerating military build-up, but is also increasingly nazifying. The Polish elites are dreaming of taking over parts of Belarus and Ukraine. Polish military forces may invade Ukraine under the pretext of protecting ethnic Poles.
RESPONSE
This message is consistent with recurring FIMI narratives about Poland's aggressive imperial ambitions towards Belarus and Ukraine and about the "revival" of Nazism in European countries. Labelling Russia’s adversaries as Nazis is a widespread pro-Kremlin disinformation technique, and has been used by Russia to justify the invasion of Ukraine by portraying it as a “denazification operation”. Russia spent years preparing the information battleground before its kinetic attack, with “Nazi Ukraine” being one of its most prominent disinformation tropes.
Poland’s security policies are defensive, responding to real threats from Russia’s aggressive actions in the region, such as the invasion of Ukraine and explicit threats of invasion or escalation. Their recent initiatives such as border fortifications and increased defence cooperation are aimed at deterring aggression. See our earlier article Russian revisionism ahead of 9 May: ‘Modern Europe is reincarnated Nazism’.
Poland adheres to international law regarding state borders, fully supports the independence and territorial integrity of neighbouring countries, and it rejects any “imperial” ambitions towards other countries. Poland, as well as the EU and the US, respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Belarus and Ukraine. No neighbouring state, except the Russian Federation, violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity in a display of imperial, revisionist aggression.
Read earlier disinformation cases claiming that the European Union is openly seeking to revive Nazism, that neo-Nazi Poland and the Baltics are the main driving force of anti-Russian initiatives, that the revival of Nazism is the foundation of Baltic independence, and that European countries are persistently trying to revive Nazism.