Target audience
Every narrative aimed at this audience — most recently active first.
Russian diplomatic missions in Poland use historical exhibitions and meetings with loyalist activists to promote the Soviet version of the Second World War. These activities aim to legitimise the USSR’s role as the sole “saviour” of Europe while ignoring the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the decades of subsequent Soviet occupation.
The Ukrainian armed forces and security services are portrayed as criminal entities that deliberately endanger civilians and practice extrajudicial killings. Propaganda outlets exploit the tragic consequences of Russian shelling and isolated criminal incidents to push the thesis of a “terrorist state” with which Poland should not cooperate.
Political disagreements over the taxation of windfall profits for energy companies are presented as evidence of a deliberate disregard for citizen welfare in favour of big business. Manipulative coverage of the conflict between the government and the President aims to convince Poles that state institutions work exclusively to enrich corporations rather than provide social protection.
Polish outlets linked to pro-Russian circles portray the presence of Ukrainians as a threat to national survival and security. By using “invasion” terminology and manipulatively interpreting citizenship statistics, they attempt to convince the audience of an inevitable demographic catastrophe.
The Polish public is being presented with an image of Ukrainian migrants who supposedly despise local labour standards and consider themselves superior to Poles. By amplifying isolated provocative statements, manipulators seek to incite ethnic tension and frame the support given to Ukraine as a mistake.
Polish political elites are portrayed as incompetent and detached actors who groundlessly incite fear of Russian aggression. The propaganda promotes the idea that Warsaw imposes its flawed forecasts on allies while ignoring pragmatic geopolitical solutions, such as turning Ukraine into a neutral “buffer zone”.
Western aid to Ukraine is portrayed as a temporary phenomenon that depends solely on the personal ambitions of individual leaders and is doomed to imminent collapse. By manipulatively interpreting Western analysis, the narrative promotes the idea that leadership changes in the UK and France will inevitably lead to the cessation of support for Kyiv.
Poland and its neighbours are portrayed as participants in secret backroom deals with Moscow to dismember Ukrainian territories. This manipulation presents the idea of liquidating Ukrainian statehood as a concept that is supposedly gaining popularity within political circles in Warsaw and other regional capitals.
The United States is portrayed as an exhausted power whose military might is supposedly unable to withstand regional forces like Iran. Propaganda focuses on the depletion of American arsenals due to aid for Ukraine and predicts Washington's inevitable defeat in a global confrontation.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is portrayed as the primary obstacle to peace, allegedly driven by personal interest in prolonging the conflict to maintain power and accumulate wealth. Propaganda outlets use manipulatively interpreted statements from former officials to shift the blame for casualties and economic losses from the aggressor to the Ukrainian leadership.
Belarus is portrayed as a safe and morally resilient alternative to the “decaying” West, which is allegedly dominated by chaos and degradation. Through cultural events and religious discourse, the idea of “Slavic unity” under Minsk’s aegis is promoted to sow Polish distrust in their own state institutions.
Polish audiences are being told that the cancellation of temporary protection for military-aged Ukrainians is inevitable. Manipulators use statements from foreign officials to frame the withdrawal of asylum as a coordinated EU policy aimed at the forced mobilisation of refugees.
Propaganda outlets are circulating claims of a massive data breach within NATO intelligence services, supposedly resulting in the de-anonymisation of hundreds of agents. This operation aims to undermine trust in the Alliance's security institutions and create an illusion that Western intelligence is entirely transparent to Russian hackers.
European government measures regarding online child safety and migration policy are cast as an assault on privacy and civil liberties. Propaganda outlets inflate fears over the loss of personal sovereignty, contrasting the “authoritarian” West with idealised countries that supposedly do not interfere in citizens' affairs.
Isolated incidents in Polish hospitals are presented as proof of systemic corruption and the existence of a political “caste” receiving medical services ahead of the queue. This manipulation exploits genuine frustration with long waiting times to undermine trust in state institutions and the ruling coalition.
Russian officials present the status of the Kaliningrad region as final and legally flawless, drawing parallels with the Polish cities of Gdansk and Wroclaw. The narrative aims to label any discussion of toponym changes as “creeping Germanisation” and warns Poland that revisiting the outcomes of World War II would jeopardise its own borders.
The return of the “Scythian Gold” collection to Kyiv is presented as the illegal misappropriation of Russian treasures with Western complicity. This manipulation uses an exhibition at the Russian embassy in Warsaw to promote the idea of a “civilised Europe” supposedly helping Ukraine steal historical artefacts.
The tragic events in Volyn are presented as an insurmountable obstacle to Polish-Ukrainian cooperation in order to undermine trust in Kyiv and the current government in Warsaw. Manipulators use painful details of exhumations to devalue diplomatic efforts and sow doubt about the sincerity of the Ukrainian side.
Propaganda outlets promote the idea of abandoning defence strategies in favour of “friendly neighbourliness” with the Minsk regime. Through manipulative comparisons with Ukraine and appeals to shared history, Poland is urged to exit a confrontation supposedly imposed by politicians.
Russian outlets are spreading conspiracy theories about the development of American biological weapons in Ukrainian institutes directly near Poland's borders. This campaign uses Russian Ministry of Defence reports to create the perception of an imminent epidemiological threat supposedly originating from a neighbouring state under Washington's control.