DISINFO: A Russian journalist was expelled from Poland for political reasons
SUMMARY
In the case of Leonid Sviridov, he was expelled from Poland in a completely unlawful and unjustified manner without the possibility to appeal against this decision – he was thrown out of the country only because the Polish authorities did not like what he wrote about them as a journalist.
RESPONSE
This message is a part of a wider narrative about lack of democracy in Western countries, in this case, it promotes the idea that “authoritarian” Poland punishes journalists for their opinions and views.
On 15 March 2021, the Polish authorities decided to prolong the travel ban for Leonid Sviridov (a Russian journalist working in Poland before 2014) as this person continued his anti-Polish disinformation activities after being expelled from Poland. The Polish special services expelled Sviridov to Russia in December 2015 because he was suspected of espionage in favour of the Russian special services (his case was under review since October 2014).
The claims that the Polish decision to expel these persons is a violation of the freedom of speech or a “systemic discrimination of the Russian citizens in Poland” is not true as these well-identified people posed a security threat to Poland. See other examples of similar messages claiming that Polish media promote the idea that the Russians are not people, but “agents of the Kremlin”, the Polish authorities created an insane hysteria of intimidation with Russia, used for the needs of domestic politics and Poland started another wave of Russophobic political persecution of the Russian journalists.