The Russian Narrative that Poland Plans to Annex Western Ukraine Reached North Macedonia

Aside the pro-Kremlin views and claims of the fictional author published on the Polish web-portal, Niezalezny Dziennik Polityczny, who spreads fake news, there is absolutely no evidence, official position or any support of the claim of Poland’s alleged intentions to annex part of Ukraine. According to all information, this post is disinformation and is part of a wider Russian propaganda related to the war in Ukraine

 

 

A media article states that Poland will claim part of Ukrainian territory as shared on the social media. There is no official evidence, however, for such claim and the research performed to determine where such disinformation is coming from, and who is spreading this incorrect theory point toward Kremlin.

The sacrifices may pay off when Poland regains its historic lands, but it won’t happen any time soon considering the problems of cultural, political and economic integration of the two not very friendly people, wrote the columnist Marek Gala for “Niezalezny Dziennik Polityczny”.

12^th January 12, the web portal published an article with the following title:

No longer a secret: Poland will claim part of Ukraine’s territory

The text claims that Poland, the country that has sent most of the volunteers and is among those that donated most of the weapons to Ukraine, expresses territorial claims to its neighbouring Ukraine. The article also claims that Poland will annex West Ukrainian territory.

The Polish medium “Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny” along with the author Marek Gala are cited as the source of the information.

But what is the truth behind this tendentious article with a sensational title?

First of all, it should be noted that this information is published on a Macedonian portal few months ago, i.e. it’s popularity reached its peak in October last year, when the Polish medium Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny or NDP, with pro-Kremlin views published the article titled “European hyenas already started to share the carcass. There is no interest to aid Ukraine” by the author Marek Gala. The text claims that Poland prepares to annex Western Ukraine.

The article says Poland may deploy its army in Western Ukraine and that the ruling party Law and Justice will hold a referendum to merge Western regions of Ukraine with Poland. The NDP article also says that Russia will take control of Southeast Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine in its “special military operation”, with the claim that Kremlin is not interested in taking over Western Ukraine.

The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Laboratory (DFRLab), that tracks Russia’s movements across the military cyber and information domains, in the Russian War Report published 4^th November 2022, inter alia, explores this narrative.

The report states that the website Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny or NDP (the source of the information shared in the post that we are reviewing) in April 2022 was blocked in Poland for spreading false information about the war in Ukraine.

The Polish media OKO.press investigated the NDP in 2021 and published that the Editor-in-Chief, Adam Kaminsky, was a fictional character on the social media. OKO discovered that the Facebook profile used a photo stolen from a Lithuanian orthopedist named Andrius Žukauskas. According to some reports, NDP used more than twenty impersonations across a network of websites, fora, blogs and Western social media platforms in Polish language. Marek Gala, listed as the author of the NDP article on the annexation of Western Ukraine is also a fictional person, reported TV Belsat.

From fictional authors to the official story of the Russian news agency

26^th October, the International Affairs Journal owned by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a shorter version of the article citing the NDP. 27^th October the website Modern Diplomacy published the article titled “Poland prepares to occupy Western Ukraine”, citing NDP as the source. Modern Diplomacy removed the article few days later.

Bellingcat director, Kristo Grozev, posted on Twitter that Modern Democracy is a Greek-owned portal and that the articles published about Russia and Ukraine are written by authors who also write for pro-Kremlin websites.

A short 🧵 on how Russian intelligence launders fake news by using helpful EU “media”.
A leading headline in Russian state media today is that “Poland plans to capture Western Ukraine and hold a referendum”. The cited source is “the Belgian portal Modern Democracy”. pic.twitter.com/fybcx181VR

— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) October 30, 2022

29^th October, the Kremlin-controlled Russian state news agency RIA Novosti published a story about the annexation, citing “Belgian portal Modern Diplomacy”. RIA Novosti did not mention that the original source of the claim was NDP which raises the possibility that RIA Novosti is trying to cover up the original source of the claim.

Citing sources of information from supposedly Western media is a tactic used by the Kremlin media to add credibility to their own stories, say the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Laboratory (DFRLab).

Kremlin’s push for annexation and “referenda” has been known since 2014, when Moscow annexed the Ukrainian city of Crimea. Later, similar “referenda” were held in Eastern Ukraine when people voted at a gunpoint to create quasi-republics in Donbass. Last February, after full aggression on Ukraine, Russia used the previously developed “referenda” facilities to “annex” four Ukrainian regions. The Western countries did not recognize the results of this referendum.

Except the claims published by a fictional author on the Polish web portal, Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny, with pro-Kremlin views that spreads fake news, has absolutely no other proof, official position or any support for the claim of Poland’s alleged intentions to annex part of Ukraine. According to all given information, we evaluate this post as untrue and as part of the wider Russian propaganda related to the war in Ukraine.

 

 

 

 

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