DISINFO: Poland is speeding up preparations for the annexation of Western Ukraine
SUMMARY
The information received by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service indicates that Warsaw is speeding up preparations for the annexation of Western Ukrainian lands: the territories of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and most of the Ternopil regions of Ukraine.
The leadership of Poland intends to act persistently and proactively, fearing that senior NATO partners will try to come to an agreement with Russia in the winter.
Warsaw is confident that Poland deserves generous compensation for military assistance provided to Ukraine, providing shelter for Ukrainian refugees, as well as for the incident with a rocket that fell on the territory of the country.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives, challenging Ukraine’s statehood and presenting Poland as a state with imperial ambitions.
In reality, Russia is the only country that poses a danger to Ukraine's territorial integrity by continuous acts of aggression since 2014. Russia is responsible for the outbreak of the conflict in 2014, after having illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula and engineered the creation of rebel militias in Donetsk, Luhansk and other places. Finally, on February 24 2022, Russia started unprovoked military aggression against Ukraine and annexed several Ukrainian regions.
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”.
Poland adheres to international law regarding state borders, fully supports the independence and territorial integrity of neighbouring countries and it rejects any “imperial” ambitions towards other countries. Read more about the Eastern policy of Poland here.
Poland was the first country to recognise Ukraine’s independence, in 1991. Poland looks to relations with Ukraine as a strategic partnership and supports Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations. Poland, as well as the EU and the US respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. No neighbouring state, except the Russian Federation, violated Ukraine's territorial integrity.
See other examples of disinformation claiming that Poland is trying to seize Ukraine, that Poland is absorbing Ukrainian territory with Zelenskyy’s consent, or that Poland plans to impose control on Ukraine’s agriculture and other sectors of economy.