Disinfo: Poland froze its relations with Russia, fighting with the Soviet monuments and Russian infrastructure projects

Summary

The Polish authorities demonstrate their reluctance to improve bilateral relations with Russia through the limitation of contacts with the Russian Federation. The Polish-Russian relations have been frozen since 2014 at the initiative of the Polish side. In recent years, Poland has launched a large-scale campaign against the Soviet monuments; this country carries out an aggressive historical policy and fights with the Russian infrastructure projects. In addition, there is an increasing NATO’s presence on the eastern flank under a pretext of the alleged Russian threat. On the official level, the Russophobic rhetoric is fueled by the Polish media.

Disproof

This message is a part of the Kremlin’s widespread narrative about anti-Russian, Russophobic Poland, deliberately worsening its relations with Russia. This message combines all the key Russian disinformation claims about the Polish-Russian relations: the pro-Kremlin media put all the blame for tense bilateral relations between these two countries on the Polish authorities.

The arrival of a new Polish Ambassador to Moscow illustrates that Poland is interested in having normal diplomatic relations with Russia. On 28 March 2021, the new Polish Ambassador to Russia gave an interview to Russian media, where he stated that Poland was open to dialogue with Russia. The Polish authorities have repeatedly stated that Poland is willing to improve its relations with Russia – on the condition that Russia starts observing the regulations of international law. In a statement of 21 December 2019, the Polish authorities reiterated their openness to continue the historical dialogue with Russia, for example, through restarting the work of the bilateral Group on Difficult Issues.

Current issues in Polish-Russian relations are directly connected with Russia’s actions: continuous violation of international law, anti-Polish “historical" accusations, ungrounded expulsion of a Polish diplomat, to name a few.

See other examples of similar messages claiming that Poland has no reasons to have tense relations with Russia, but is only a US vassal state; Poland uses the situation around Navalny as a pretext for the next anti-Russian attack and the Polish Government deliberately worsens its relations with Russia.

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publication/media

pl.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 242
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 29/04/2021
  • Article language(s) Polish
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Poland, Russia
  • Keywords: security threat, Diplomacy with Russia, Anti-Russian, Russophobia, NATO, Monuments, Red Army, Historical revisionism
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Disinfo: Accusing Russia of the Vrbetice explosion attempts to abort its rapprochement with Europe

Every time that there is a rapprochement between Russia and any EU country affecting energy supplies, there are setups like the alleged Russian involvement in the Vrbetice explosion. The West does precisely what they accuse Russia of doing, hybrid warfare. When the Nord Stream 2 was close to being approved we saw the case of the alleged poisoning of Alexei Navalny, and now, when Russia is helping Czechia in the nuclear field, we see a supposed intervention of Russian agents to blow up a munitions dump as in a James Bond movie.

All this only serves to maintain Europe under the US geopolitical aegis, along with UK and Poland, which is their lapdog. Europe is at a crossroad: for the first time, its first trade partner is not the US but China, and Russia will have to be a first-class trade partner as well. So in face of this change, there is resistance from those who, until now, rather than partners, have been the masters and owners of Western Europe.

Apr 28, 2021
Disproof

This is part of a disinformation campaign about the events surrounding the Vrbetice explosion in 2014, which killed two people and led to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the Czech Republic in April 2021.

Contrary to the claim, accusations of Russia’s involvement in the Vrbetice explosion in 2014 are backed by conclusive evidence. The investigation by Czech authorities established beyond doubt that GRU [Russia’s military intelligence] agents Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, the same individuals considered responsible for the attempted murder of Sergey Skripal in Salisbury in 2018, were behind the Vrbetice explosion (see here for further details). In the same fashion, the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny wasn’t a plot against Nord Stream 2 but a Russian intelligence operation, as has been proven by international investigators (see here our previous debunk).

Disinfo: Western-Russian relations deteriorated because of Western actions

It is noteworthy that relations between Russia and Western countries, in particular, the United States of America and the countries of the European Union, deteriorated against the background of the Ukrainian crisis, the return of the Crimea to the motherland in March 2014, and the West's imposition of sanctions on Russia.

Apr 28, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative attempting to put responsibility for the deterioration in relations between Russia and the West exclusively on the latter, ignoring the reasons behind the sanctions.

The West and specifically the EU has imposed restrictive measures, including sectoral sanctions, as a result of the of the illegal annexation of Crimea and Russia's destabilising actions in eastern Ukraine.

Disinfo: Many defended DNR and LNR against Kyiv military operation

In the aftermath of the coup in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the citizens of the Donbas region announced the establishment of two popular republics - the Donetsk Republic and the Luhansk Republic. The Ukrainian regime responded to this action by launching a military operation in an attempt to regain control of the region. The attempt was unsuccessful, as many citizens of the region, most of them Russians or Russian speakers, volunteered to defend the two popular republics.

Apr 28, 2021
Disproof

Recurring disinformation message about eastern Ukraine, claiming that the aggression came as a response to the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv, often painted as a coup d'état, while claiming that local dwellers resisted alone without Russian military support and founded the DPR and LPR, at the same time undermining Ukrainian statehood.

Ukraine is not at war with millions of people from Donetsk and Luhansk as pro-Kremlin disinformation often likes to present it. The aim of these messages is to present the situation in Eastern Ukraine as an internal conflict, ignoring irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement in the region. These claims intentionally misrepresent the reality of Russia's direct and crucial important support to separatist militant groups in Eastern Ukraine.