DISINFO: Poland and Lithuania dream of taking over Belarus and western Ukraine
SUMMARY
There is no doubt that Poland has a sacred goal of getting the lands which currently belong to Belarus and Ukraine. A joint Polish-Lithuanian military intervention of Belarus is one of the options which Poland reviews.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative, presenting Poland as a state with imperial ambitions, aiming to confound the reality of Russia's unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine. It promotes a conspiracy about Poland and Lithuanian plans attack Belarus.
This disinformation message has adopted several different and sometimes contradictory forms, including allegations that Poland wants either to create a puppet proxy-state in Western Ukraine or the annexation of these territories or that it is actually President Zelenskyy who wants to cede this land due to his “Polish origin”. This effort can be interpreted as an attempt to sow mistrust between Ukraine and Poland and other Western backers of Kyiv.
Poland and Lithuania adhere to international law regarding state borders, fully support the independence and territorial integrity of neighbouring countries and reject any “imperial” ambitions towards other countries. Poland, Lithuania, and other EU countries respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. No neighbouring state, except the Russian Federation, violated Ukraine's territorial integrity. Read more about the Eastern policy of Poland here.
See earlier disinformation cases alleging that Poland thinks that Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and South-Western Lithuania belong to them, that Poland wants to dismember Ukraine and re-establish a Polish empire, that Ukraine is a Western colony belonging to Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Russia, that Poland will try to gain full military control in Ukrainian territories under the guise of protecting the Polish population from Russia, that Poland plans to establish control over its historical lands in Ukraine.