DISINFO: Mainstream Polish media “call for war” with Russia and sow hatred and fear of Russia
SUMMARY
The TVP [Polish Public Television], like the vast majority of other Polish media, calls for war against Russia and sows hatred and fear of Russia on a daily basis.
The Russian decision to end the journalist work of the TVP correspondent Tomasz Jędruchów in their country is clearly bad. It is a construction of another wall between our countries – this time, it is an information wall. However, this decision was not made in Moscow but rather forced by the actions of Warsaw. There is a need to respond to the Polish mistreatment of Russian journalists and citizens. The Russian reaction was very soft and balanced, not particularly harmful to anyone.
RESPONSE
This message is a part of the Kremlin’s widespread narrative about Russophobic and anti-Russian Poland. The pro-Kremlin media regularly accuse the political elites of Poland of Russophobia and the implementation of anti-Russian policies.
The claim that the vast majority of Polish media “call for war” with Russia and spread anti-Russian attitudes is unfounded.
On 4 May 2021, the Russian authorities refused to prolong accreditation to Tomasz Jędruchów, a journalist of the Polish Public Television (TVP) working in Moscow. The claim that “this decision was forced by the actions of Warsaw” is untrue. Unlike the Russian journalists expelled from Warsaw for security reasons, this Polish journalist did not violate any Russian laws.
In March 2021, the Polish Counterintelligence Service put a Russian journalist, Yevgeni Reshetniev, on the list of undesirable persons because he was involved in the collection of material for the needs of a Russian, anti-Polish, disinformation campaign.
On 15 March 2021, the Polish authorities decided to prolong the travel ban for Leonid Sviridov (a Russian journalist working in Poland before 2014). The Polish authorities decided to expel Sviridov to Russia in December 2015 because he was suspected of espionage in favour of the Russian special services (his case has been under review since October 2014).
The claim that the Polish decision to expel these Russian journalists is a violation of the freedom of speech or a “systemic discrimination of Russian citizens in Poland” is not true as these two 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 the “agents of the Kremlin”, Poland started another wave of Russophobic political persecution of the Russian journalists and The Polish authoritarian state may brutally attack any of its citizens for his views and opinions.