Disinfo: Present-time Poland and Piłsudski regime are politically identical

Summary

The current political regime in Poland and Józef Piłsudski’s regime are identical. Their common characteristics are the preservation of nominal democratic institutions, right-wing conservatism and worsening relations with the USSR / Russia.

Disproof

This message is consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on the undemocratic EU and its individual member states. It is aimed to discredit the current Polish political system by drawing analogues with the interwar undemocratic regime of Józef Piłsudski. Whereas a number of remote similarities between the two were taken out of context, it is groundless to claim that the Józef Piłsudski interwar political regime is identical to present-time democratic Poland. Poland is placed rather high in authoritative democracy rankings, be it the Democracy Index by the Economist Intelligence Unit, or the Democracy Ranking compiled by the Association for Development and Advancement of the Democracy Award.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 160
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 24/07/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: USSR, Poland, Russia
  • Keywords: Anti-Russian, Democracy, Conspiracy theory
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Disinfo: Nationalists, dissatisfied with the election results, gather in Kyiv

Ukrainian nationalists did not agree with the voting results of the elections to the Verkhovna Rada. They refuse to accept the results in the 223rd election district in Kyiv and intend to defend their opinion to the end.

Disproof

Recurring Kremlin narrative about nationalists in Ukraine. The article in "Moskovskyy Komsomolets" is not referring to any specific source of information. The information concerning people gathering in Kiev was refuted by representatives of the nationalist political party "Svoboda". Deputy of "Svoboda", Yuri Levchenko, who was nominated in the 223rd district, said: “I officially announce that at the moment there are only 2 of my representatives at the district election commission (because I don’t need more, so far).” A video showed that police near the 223rd district noted that everything was calm there. There were also no gatherings near the Verkhovna Rada.

Disinfo: The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact did not violate the rights of the Polish state

Polish authorities once again showed their Russophobic nature by not inviting Russia to the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. Polish side, as always, accuses Russia of signing the non-aggression pact [the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact] in August 1939, even though it was repeatedly proven that this document did not violate the rights of the Polish state.

Disproof

This message is part of the Kremlin’s policy of historical revisionism and an attempt to portray Russia's role in the World War II as not aggressive - see another example referring to Ribbentrop-Molotov pact here. It is a proven historical fact that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact contained the Secret Supplementary Protocol, which assumed the division of Poland and other Eastern European countries between the USSR and Germany. Thus, the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact directly caused the German and Soviet military aggression against Poland in September 1939, which resulted in complete occupation of this country by Germany and USSR. See similar examples of the Russian historical revisionism concerning Poland here and here.

Disinfo: The Mueller investigation confirmed there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump administration

The Mueller report confirms that there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump administration.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russia's interference in the 2016 US presidential election. The claim that the Mueller investigation did not find any evidence of collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government is false. Robert Mueller’s investigation sought to establish whether members of the Trump campaign – several of which entertained systematic contacts with individuals connected to the Russian government – conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its 2016 US election interference activities. The investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome – and that the Trump campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts. Specifically, the investigation concluded that 1) the Russian government interfered in the US election in sweeping and systematic fashion, and 2) there was insufficient evidence to make a prosecutorial decision to charge any member of the Trump campaign with taking part in a criminal conspiracy. However, as Mueller explained during his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, not making a charging decision does not mean the investigation failed to turn up evidence of conspiracy. During this testimony, Mueller confirmed that his investigation did indeed uncover some evidence of conspiracy between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government, even though it was not seen as sufficient to bring conspiracy charges against any member of the Trump campaign. Ultimately, during the course of the investigation, more than 30 defendants were charged with committing federal crimes, including 12 officers of the Russian military. Seven defendants have been convicted or plead guilty. For a summary of the indictments, see here. Based on Justice Department policy and principles of fairness, the Special Counsel team decided it would not make a decision as to whether the president committed a crime. Read the full Mueller report here. For more disinfo cases about the Mueller investigation, see here.