The Truth Behind Claims of Poland’s Desire for Direct Confrontation with Russia

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Recent Russian propaganda has been disseminating claims that Poland is attempting to provoke Russia into a direct military conflict, with the media suggesting that this is Kyiv`s belief, citing Ukrainian political scientist Oleg Soskin as a source. In this article, we delve into Soskin’s actual statements, examine whether there is any basis for Poland to seek a direct confrontation with Russia, and investigate the origins of these claims.

 

What has Oleg Soskin really said?

First of all, it is worth noting that Oleg Soskin is a political scientist and economist, a former advisor to the former President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma. All his statements are personal and do not reflect the official position of Ukraine. At the same time, propagandist headlines like “In Kyiv, they began to talk about the aggressive plans of Poland” might create the impression that the war between Poland and Russia is being seriously discussed at the level of the country’s leadership.

The Truth Behind Claims of Poland’s Desire for Direct Confrontation with Russia, The Ukrainian Review

Ukrainian political scientist Oleg Soskin. Source: https://galinfo.com.ua/

Now let’s take a look at what Oleg Soskin specifically says about Poland in his video:

“Poland is on the path of increasing its military efforts, its army. And the talk is, they have placed a US base, and they are already openly carrying out hostile actions against the Russian Federation. The latest events are, of course, a direct challenge to Putin and the entire Russian Federation. They have taken money from the accounts of the Russian embassy.

So, Poland has extremely raised the degree of its open confrontation, as well as public, diplomatic, political, geopolitical, economic, and other insults against the Russian Federation.”

However, these words turned out to be taken out of context. Later in the same video, Oleg Soskin expresses his opinion on the reasons for Poland’s “cooling” towards Russia, besides the Russian invasion of Ukraine:

“The population of this underdeveloped empire [Russia] is very hostile towards Poland and hates it. And it has been said more than once, the same Medvedev and others, Soloviev and the like, that they need to be taught a lesson. Plus, objectively, of course, Putin understands that he must, at all costs, connect mainland Russia with this Kaliningrad appendix. And for him, this is the general task for all of them.

And they will tell me, yes, they are NATO members. I say I don’t care that they are NATO members. Because he [Putin] has already clearly said that, first of all, this was an illegal expansion of NATO.

There would have been no collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO would not have expanded.”

In his video, Oleg Soskin puts forward his own theory that if the Ukrainian counteroffensive fails, the president of Ukraine will be forced to sit down at the negotiating table and give up part of the land to Russia. In this scenario, says Soskin, Russia’s next blow will be against Poland. Thus, the video talks about the threat from Russia to Poland, not the other way around.

 

Does Poland have any reasons to provoke Russia?

“The Ukrainian Review” has also asked a Polish political scientist, historian, publicist, and professor at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń Roman Bäcker how he sees such kinds of claims.

The Truth Behind Claims of Poland’s Desire for Direct Confrontation with Russia, The Ukrainian Review

Polish political scientist, historian, publicist, and professor at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń Roman Bäcker.Source:https://torun.wyborcza.pl/torun/7,48723,28150589,prof-roman-backer-rosjanie-tak-jak-i-wszyscy-marza-o-tym.html

“No one in Poland wants a third world war, Roman Bäcker says. If a military confrontation occurred between Poland and Russia, NATO’s Article 5 would surely be invoked, requiring NATO to join the war on Poland’s side. A war between NATO and Russia is a global conflict. It is clear that Russia’s land, sea, and air forces are unable to conduct an offensive, even in the case of Ukraine, which is surrounded on three sides by Russia and Belarus. Therefore, Russian forces would be even less capable of fighting against Poland, given the relatively small border section between the two countries in northern Poland. This means that a world war between NATO and Russia, initially a local war between Poland and Russia, would not take place on the battlefield but through air strikes. These attacks could quickly escalate to a nuclear war for obvious reasons.

No rational person, not blinded by emotions, wants to bring about a third world war. These are basic issues, and no statements in Poland suggest that the country is eager to participate in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict as one of the warring parties. Naturally, no one wants to start a third world war, let alone lead to a nuclear war between two major nuclear powers, NATO and Russia.

Putin is simply seeking a way out of the situation he finds himself in. If not to declare victory in the war against Ukraine, he tries to prove, at any cost, that his actions are the result of the West, the United States, NATO, and its allies, including Poland, waging war against Russia.”

 

Who spreads this information?

We have analyzed sources in the media, which have published articles about Poland’s will for direct confrontation with Russia for the English-speaking audience. 

The Truth Behind Claims of Poland’s Desire for Direct Confrontation with Russia, The Ukrainian Review

A man passes a control post of the Russia Today TV company in Moscow, June 2018. Source: https://time.com/6205645/russian-propaganda-censorship-history/

The News Dept the source of information here is RIA FAN. It is part of the Patriot Media Group, a Russian media organization whose Board of Trustees is headed by Yevgeniy Prigozhin. This media is banned in the EU because of its propaganda and disinformation.

The Eastern Herald there is no source of information in the publication about Poland. However, the sources in other articles related to the Russian-Ukrainian war are Russian. For example, we can see links to the propaganda outletRussian Spring”, another propaganda outletRBC”, the pro-Putin newspaper “Izvestia” etc.

Teller Report the source of publication is the Russian propaganda networkRussia Today”.

Social bites the source of publication is media supported by the Russian governmentGazeta.ru”.

b92 the source of information is the Russian state-funded and state-directed media outlet “Sputnik”.

News Unrolled the source of publication is another pro-Putin media RIA Novosti.

Garder Firenews the author of the publication is Russian journalist Ekaterina Drobyshevskaya. In her articles on the Russian website tut-news.ru she links to such Russian propaganda sources as the state-controlled TV channel “Russia-1”, pro-Putin media RIA Novosti, Russian state-owned agency TASS, etc.

Thus, the roots of all the publications analyzed by us come from Russian propaganda.

 

Alina Kuvaldina