DISINFO: Polish media use the imaginary concept of hybrid war to scare the Poles
SUMMARY
[In terms of the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border], the hybrid war is a 98% media concept; it has nothing to do with a formal declaration of war or waging war between two countries. However, this concept is very popular in Polish media - it is used to spread negative emotions and scare the Poles.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narrative about the migration situation on the eastern border of the European Union directly caused by the Belarusian authorities.
The claim that Polish media scare the Poles with “imaginary” hybrid war threats is ungrounded. The hybrid war is not a media concept but one of the ways to undermine the domestic security of a particular country by an unfriendly state.
According to the position of the Polish authorities, the ongoing situation on the Belarusian border is a hybrid attack on Poland in order to destabilise the country and the entire EU. The situation was caused by Belarus as a response to EU sanctions imposed on Minsk for its oppressive measures against the political opposition. There is evidence that the Belarusian authorities have instigated the ongoing irregular migration flows to the EU borders via Belarus.
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has stated that the situation on the EU-Belarus border is not a bilateral issue of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus but a hybrid attack against the whole EU. Similarly, the vice-president of the European Commission and high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy (HRVP) Josep Borrell stressed that responsibility for the migration crisis falls on the Lukashenka regime.
See our earlier articles on the Belarus migration situation here and here.