DISINFO: Russia protects the territorial integrity of Ukraine from Polish expansionism
SUMMARY
Nationalist elements in Poland dream about taking back the western lands that Ukraine received thanks to Stalin’s decisions after WWII. The only real guarantor of Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its current borders is Russia.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative challenging Ukraine’s statehood and presenting Poland as a state with imperial ambitions.
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 annex 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. 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. Read more about the Eastern policy of Poland here.
See earlier disinformation cases alleging that Poland thinks that Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and South-Western Lithuania belong to them, that Poland wants to dismember Ukraine and re-establish a Polish empire, that Ukraine is a Western colony belonging to Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Russia, that Poland will try to gain full military control in Ukrainian territories under the guise of protecting the Polish population from Russia, that Poland plans to establish control over its historical lands in Ukraine.