DISINFO: Poland and the Baltic states make it difficult for the EU to have good relations with Russia
SUMMARY
The recent decision of Poland to extend the travel ban for Leonid Sviridov without giving any reasons undermines the sense of the common European security policy. Such countries as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia misuse security regulations, trying to create an impression that Russia wants to seize the “European paradise”. Thus, the Baltic states and Poland make it difficult for the entire European Union to maintain relatively good relations with Russia. Repressions against journalists is a hit below the belt – unfortunately, Poland took the first step in this sphere.
The Polish special services, the “Red Guards” of Polish Russophobia, try to prove their claim about the “journalist cover” used by Russian spies, but their words sound tragically unbelievable.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russophobic Poland and the Baltic states. The pro-Kremlin media regularly accuse the political elites of these countries of Russophobia and the implementation of anti-Russian policies.
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 special services 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 reviewed since October 2014).
The claim that Poland and the Baltic states misuse the European security regulations and prevent good relations between Russia and the EU is also unfounded. Until the outbreak of the crisis in Ukraine in 2014, the EU and Russia had been building a strategic partnership. However, in recent years, the issue of the shared neighbourhood has become a major point of friction. Since 2016, the EU’s approach to Russia is guided by five principles reaffirmed, most recently, by EU Foreign Ministers in October 2020 and by Josep Borrell in March 2021.
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”, The Baltic states are persecuting the Russian media and Anti-Russian attacks of Poland and the Baltic states remind of Volksdeutsch mentality.