Special Services

Russia is openly lying about the war in Ukraine. It is trying to infect global public opinion with its messages, although most of the content is addressed to audience in Russia. The aim of the information activities is to present a false image of the war against Ukraine but also to avoid questions about casualties among Russian soldiers and tensions in society which is increasingly feeling the economic effects of the Russian war.

So far, the identified lies about the war in Ukraine that Russia is distributing are based on the following narrative lines:

• Russia conducts 'military operation' against 'Nazis who terrorize Ukraine';
• Russian actions are aimed only at military targets;
• Russia's actions are aimed at protecting the Russian-speaking population and Russians;
• Russian troops are welcomed with enthusiasm and gratitude in Ukraine;
• the government in Kiev has ‘taken the entire Ukrainian people hostage’;
• the West is behaving aggressively toward Russia;
• Ukraine has been working on nuclear and biological weapons, thus threatening Russia;
• Russia's actions are the result of disregarding its legitimate security concerns.

These lies are spread by the Russian media, politicians and public institutions, including Russian embassies around the world. The campaigns to misinform public opinion are supervised by the special services. In order to increase their effectiveness, the Kremlin cuts off its citizens from alternative sources of information - Russian independent media and foreign media - and drastically tightens censorship.

Poland is also a constant target of Russian information activities. After Putin unleashed the war in Ukraine, the existing hostile narrative lines of Kremlin propaganda targeting our country have been expanded with more lies, including these:

- the Polish government cynically takes advantage of the situation to gain importance in international politics;

- Poland is ‘Russophobic’ and sets the West against Russia;

- Poland has hostile plans towards Ukraine and wants to occupy its western territories;

- Poland has been colonized by the US and the UK and is being exploited by these countries against Russia;

- Poland is an unreliable partner whose behavior leads to escalation of the situation in Europe;

- the Polish government is putting at risk the safety of its own citizens by engaging in aid to  Ukraine;

- the Polish government discriminates against Poles by accepting refugees from Ukraine;

- accepting refugees threatens the security of Poland;

- refugees will paralyze the Polish health care system, cause an economic crash and take jobs away from Poles.

The aggressive propaganda and disinformation activities are an inseparable element of conflicts initiated by Russia. History shows that the Kremlin, while pursuing its imperial policy aimed at successive countries and nations, cares about presenting itself as a mediator, a peacemaker, and a solver of problems and tensions. Moscow wants at all costs to avoid being seen as the aggressor, perpetrator and attacker. That is why the Russian authorities attach great importance to disinformation activities. These are supervised by the most important Russian officials and the aggressive Russian secret services.

Spokesperson of the Minister-Special Services Coordinator