Warsaw, Poland , On April 12, 2022, Polish and Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of orchestrating a disinformation campaign aimed at driving a wedge between the two neighboring allies, exploiting historical grievances and the influx of over 2.5 million Ukrainian refugees since Russia’s invasion began in February. The warning came after vandals painted the Ukrainian flag’s colors, but reversed, with yellow on top of blue, on monuments in Krakow days before Poland’s Independence Day in November 2021, alongside an offensive message in a mix of Russian and Ukrainian. Polish prosecutors are still investigating, but officials believe the act was a Russian-inspired provocation to trigger ethnic hostility.
Russian disinformation targets historical wounds
Poland and Ukraine share a difficult past. Western Ukraine was once under Polish rule, with Ukrainians largely subservient to a Polish landowning class. Resentments erupted in ethnic bloodshed during World War II, when the Ukrainian Insurgent Army slaughtered tens of thousands of Poles in the Nazi-occupied regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. After the war, Poland lived under Moscow’s oppressive control for decades. Some Poles, especially those who lived through the war, carry lingering hostility toward both Russians and Ukrainians.
“The Russian efforts to sow divisions between the Poles and Ukrainians, particularly by means of exploiting historical issues, are as old as time,” said Stanislaw Zaryn, the spokesman for Poland’s security services. “Russia has redoubled them since the war began. And they are more dangerous now because the war is going on and it can affect more people than before.”
False claims about Polish territorial ambitions
One false claim Polish authorities say Russia is spreading is that Poland seeks to reclaim Lviv and other territories in western Ukraine that once belonged to Poland. The Polish Foreign Ministry issued a series of tweets to debunk the claim. “Those claims are untrue,” the ministry said. “Poland will never accept the annexation of any territory belonging to an independent state.”
Another false narrative is that Poland, a NATO ally hosting thousands of U.S. troops, is working to set the West against Russia. That claim was made recently by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, the current deputy chairman of the Russian security council.
Refugees as a wedge issue
More than 2.5 million Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Poland since the war began. While some move on to other countries, more than half have remained. Poles have reacted with an outpouring of help and goodwill. The government has extended to Ukrainians the same rights to education and health care that Poles have.
But Never Again, an anti-racism association in Poland, has documented several attempts to stoke aversion to Ukrainian refugees and even to openly justify Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. In some cases, those behind the messages are far-right Polish activists or politicians with pro-Kremlin views, according to a report the organization published on April 7, 2022.
“These groups do not enjoy widespread public support, but they do their best to make Poles and Ukrainians quarrel, spread hateful content, conspiracy theories, and false information, primarily in the internet space,” the report said.
Larysa Lacko, an expert on countering disinformation at NATO, said Russia is known to exploit refugees as a wedge issue because it touches on the economy, race, and other sensitive issues. She said she has also observed Russian “disinformation talking about historical grievances.”
Limited impact but growing risk
At a moment of huge solidarity in Poland and elsewhere with Ukrainians, disinformation is limited in its impact, argued Lacko. “Given the atrocities on the ground, it’s harder to fall into these sorts of traps,” she said.
But officials in Poland say they have to remain on guard. Especially if the number of refugees grows, creating the potential for more social anxieties that can be exploited. The Ukrainian Embassy in Warsaw, reacting to the November 2021 vandalism, immediately denounced it as “shameful” and “a provocation aimed at harming the good neighborly relations between Ukraine and Poland.”
The pattern is clear. Russia uses historical grievances, fake territorial claims, and refugee-related fears to try to fracture the alliance between Poland and Ukraine. For now, the bond holds. But as the war grinds on and more refugees arrive, the pressure to divide them will only intensify. Both nations know the cost of falling for the trap.
