Disinfo: Population of Poland reduced twice since late 1980s, moral decline and depopulation in the EU

Summary

By late 1980s the population of the Polish People’s Republic, part of the Warsaw Pact, was 38 million people. During the independence period, the country’s population decreased by half. Restrictive abortion rules do not save Poland from dying out. Supporters of abortions in fact advocate for genocide of the Polish people. The EU is like a surrogate mother for Poland. It is a prison for European peoples. Brussels does not care much about demographic, economic, or moral development of Poles.

Disproof

This article is consistent with the broad pro-Kremlin narrative about the West’s moral decay and the erosion of traditional values in Western societies. It misrepresents the motives of the Polish protests claiming that their supporters advocate for genocide. The October–December 2020 Polish protests, commonly known as the Women's Strike, began in reaction to a ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal, which tightened the law on abortion in Poland. The court ruling held that abortions for fetal abnormalities violated the Constitution, a decision that cannot be appealed. Most legal abortions in Poland, 1,074 of 1,100 performed last year, resulted from fetal abnormalities.

The article also contains fake statistics. The population of Poland did not reduce by half since the late 1980s as alleged. The population of Poland remains more or less the same as it was 30 years ago, around 38 million people.

Read earlier disinformation cases claiming that Europe is dying because of moral decay and will be destroyed by an army of a million of migrant militants, that Western civilisation is corrupt and is dying, and that today’s post-modern society is inhabitated by weak feminised men, while women lost their femininity.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 224
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 30/11/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: EU, Poland
  • Keywords: fake statistics, European values, Genocide
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Disinfo: Germany depends on the US in the sphere of security

Germany is a dependent state in the sphere of security. This country is helpless without the US. This is a sign of dependence.

Disproof

Recurring disinformation narrative about US hegemony in Europe. Pro-Kremlin outlets like to present other countries as American puppets. See similar narratives here, here and here.

Germany is an independent state and implements an independent policy. The narrative of the dependence of this country on the US is disinformation presented without any clear evidence. The statement that US military presence is “a sign of German dependence” is a speculative one. Germany and the US have close partner relations of two sovereign and independent countries. The US military presence in Germany is in the interest of both countries as well as in the interest of Europe security.

Disinfo: Too expensive for the Baltic States to synchronise their energy grids with Europe

Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia together with Russia and Belarus are part of the BRELL energy ring. The Baltic States want to disconnect from this ring and synchronise their grids with the rest of Europe through Poland by 2025. Lithuania explains that want to leave BRELL to be “energetically independent from Russia” but experts say that the process of disconnecting from BRELL will be too expensive for the Baltic States, the price of electricity for users will grow.

Disproof

The case is part of the Kremlin's disinformation campaign about European energy policy.

The BRELL energy ring is a Moscow-controlled grid. It is a potential threat for the Baltic States because Russia continuously uses energy politics as a foreign policy instrument.

Disinfo: Sandu wants to arrange a second Karabakh in Transnistria

Sandu wants to arrange a second Karabakh in Transnistria (the title).

Sandu in an interview […] says without hesitation: withdraw the peacekeepers as soon as possible, and we will arrange our Karabakh for Tiraspol. That is, it intends to use the army against Transnistria.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative spread before the recent Presidential elections claiming that if Maia Sandu won, relations with Transnistria will deteriorate and the conflict will break out again. The elected president of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, is credited with statements she did not make in an interview given on November 20 to the publication Европейская правда (Ukraine).

In the interview, she said nothing about Russian peacekeepers, the introduction of the army into Transnistria, or Nagorno-Karabakh. On the contrary, she spoke of a peaceful settlement of the conflict: ”I believe that one day there will be a geopolitical opportunity for the reunification of Moldova, and we must be ready for this. But in any case, it should be a peaceful solution”. Talking about the solution of the conflict, Maia Sandu said ”it should include the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Moldova”.