DISINFO: Polish elites promote expansionist plans with the Three Seas Initiative
SUMMARY
Poland has a painful history and equally painful ambitions, which show that a certain part of the Polish elites promotes expansionist plans, such as the Three Seas Initiative, with allusions to present-day Western Ukraine and Russophobia.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about an alleged aggressive, imperialist and Russophobic Poland. In particular, this narrative presents organisations such as the Eastern Partnership and the Three Seas Initiative as anti-Russian “expansionist” projects.
Disinformation claims about an imperialist Poland have adopted several different and sometimes contradictory forms, including allegations that Poland wants to create a puppet proxy state in Western Ukraine or annex these territories or that it is President Zelenskyy who wants to cede this land due to his “Polish origin”.
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.
The Three Seas Initiative is a forum of 12 countries from Central and Eastern Europe launched in 2015. Its main goal is to promote better connectivity among the Member States, with a particular focus on infrastructure and energy. The main projects discussed at the forums of the Three Seas Initiative are the Via Carpathia, Baltic-Adriatic Corridor, Via Baltica, Rail Baltica, and the LNG infrastructure in Poland and Croatia.
Read the recent declaration of the Sixth Summit of the Three Seas Initiative, which took place in July 2021 in Sofia. More information about the Three Seas Initiative can be consulted here.
See similar messages such as the Three Seas Initiative is a geopolitical concept designed to promote American interests, the aim of the Eastern Partnership is to separate Russia’s neighbours from it, and the Three Seas Initiative is a tool of American hegemony in post-Soviet areas surrounding Russia.