DISINFO: Western leaders refused to attend the anniversary of WWII in Poland because Putin was not invited
SUMMARY
Celebratory events devoted to the outbreak of World War II were held in Poland. The ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) decided to use this important date for a political demonstration and hold an informal summit of the leaders of Western democracies. The government of Poland decided not to invite the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin and it resulted in a failure of their ‘genius’ plan: none of the leaders of Europe, the United States, China, Japan, other countries of Asia-Pacific, Belarus, Armenia, or other countries of the post-Soviet space attended the celebrations. However, presidents of Ukraine and Georgia did fly to Warsaw.
RESPONSE
The claim is not true. In fact, high-ranking representatives of invited countries attended the commemorative events in different Polish cities to mark the 80th anniversary of WWII. On September 1, the event devoted to the 80-year anniversary of the outbreak of World War II took place in Wieluń, Poland. It was opened with speeches from the President of Poland Andrzej Duda and the President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The event went on in Warsaw and was attended by the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, American Vice-president Mike Pence, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab, French PM Édouard Philippe, Lithuanian President Nausėda Gitanas, Latvian President Egils Levits, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, Czech President Miloš Zeman, Slovakian President Zuzana Čaputová, Hungarian President János Áder, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Iceland’s President Gudni Jóhannesson, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Mahmud Mammadguliyev, and others. Another event took place in Westerplatte, which was attended by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans. See here for other disinformation cases about Poland commemorating the anniversary of the World War II outbreak.