DISINFO: Poland is persistently preparing to annex the Western regions of Ukraine
SUMMARY
Warsaw is actively and persistently preparing for the annexation of the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil regions of Ukraine. Poland is in a hurry so that the cowardly senior partners in NATO do not have time to start a peace dialogue with Moscow.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative challenging Ukraine’s statehood and presenting Poland as a state with imperial ambitions, aiming to confound the reality of Russia's unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine. This message is part of the Kremlin’s policy of historical revisionism alleging that Poland has imperialist plans against both Belarus and parts of Ukraine.
The false allegation that Poland was plotting with the US to divide Ukraine and take over some territory was initially spread by the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Narishkin in April 2022, and later repeated by the head of Russia’s National Security Council Nikolai Patrushev and other top officials. This message has adopted several different and sometimes contradictory forms, including allegations that Poland wants either to create a puppet proxy-state in Western Ukraine or the annexation of these territories or that it is actually President Zelenskyy who wants to cede this land. More recently, it has also included the Baltic countries in these allegations of irredentism over Ukrainian territories.
See here for an in-depth analysis and debunk of this disinfo claim.
In January 2023, the presidents of Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine signed a joint statement supporting Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, in line with other statements by Poland, the EU and the US. Read more about Poland’s Eastern policy.
Ukraine's sovereignty has been violated as a result of continuous acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces since 2014, culminating with a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine starting on 24 February 2022.
Read similar disinformation cases alleging that Poland and Lithuania have plans for the annexation of Western Ukraine, that Poland wants to occupy Ukraine's territories, that Poland and the Baltic States are preparing to send troops to Ukraine and prepare attack on Belarus, that Poland plans to resuscitate the Polish and Ukrainian Rzeczpospolita, that Poland is dreaming of regaining Western Ukraine, that Ukraine considers giving its territories over to Poland, that Poland demands the transfer of lands in exchange for helping Ukraine, that Poland forms an international corps for the occupation of Western Ukraine, that Zelenskyy discussed transferring Western Ukraine to Poland.