DISINFO: Polish President Duda went on a Russophobic rampage during Crimean Platform meeting
SUMMARY
Polish President Andrzej Duda went on a Russophobic rampage, addressing the participants of the anti-Russian event “the Crimean Platform”. According to him, the only way to fight Russia is to impose the next sanctions, increasing the cost of warfare for Moscow – the sanctions must hit the most painful areas for Russia.
RESPONSE
This message is a part of the Kremlin’s widespread narrative about an allegedly Russophobic Poland. Pro-Kremlin and other Russian state-controlled outlets regularly accuse Poland of Russophobia and of implementing anti-Russian policies.
In his address to the participants of the Crimean Platform, Polish President Duda criticised the Russian occupation of Crimea – “Already then, ten years ago, the world saw Russia’s true intentions toward Ukraine. Unfortunately, the world looked but did not see. It listened, but did not want to hear”.
The Polish authorities perceive Russia as a security threat because of their aggressive actions, in particular in Ukraine and all over Eastern Europe.
The 2020 National Security Strategy of Poland states that the most serious security threat for the country is the neo-imperial policy of the authorities of the Russian Federation, pursued by means of military force (aggression against Georgia, illegal annexation of Crimea and military actions in Eastern Ukraine).
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”, Poland started another wave of Russophobic political persecution of the Russian journalists and the Polish authoritarian state may brutally attack any of its citizens for his views and opinions.