DISINFO: Polish claims regarding the Ukrainian territorial integrity are fake
SUMMARY
Fake: Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski states that Poland has no claims to the territory of Western Ukraine. According to the Head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin, the Polish elites are not planning to give up their attempts to establish control over Ukraine’s western territories. At the same time, Warsaw will follow the EU assumption of “peaceful political and economic development of the western Ukrainian territories”. Warsaw has presented its claims on historic Galicia and Volhynia regions for a long time.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative presenting Poland as an aggressive anti-Russian state with imperial ambitions.
The claim appeared in connection to the 2024 farmer protests in Poland protesting against the EU agriculture policies and the influx of Ukrainian food products to the Polish market. This situation is a direct result of the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports – before the 2022 invasion, a majority of Ukrainian agriculture production was exported through the Black Sea. Russia’s responsibility for the global food crisis comes as a consequence of the unprovoked and unjustified Russian invasion of Ukraine: naval blockade of Ukrainian posts, bombardment of transport infrastructure and shelling of farming regions.
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. Poland, as well as the EU and the US, respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. No neighbouring state, except for the Russian Federation, violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity in a display of imperial, revisionist aggression.
Read more about the Eastern policy of Poland here.
See our in-depth debunk of the pro-Kremlin claims of Polish historical revisionism as well as All roads lead to Poland.
See other examples of similar messages claiming that Polish authorities are obsessed with the idea of reconstruction of a modern Polish Empire and Megalomaniacal Polish politicians realise their plan of “Drang nach Osten” in Belarus.