"This was staged by Ukraine" was just one of the narratives that websites shared after Russian drones violated Polish airspace. Behind them is a large-scale Kremlin campaign, which also included sabotage.
Eight people have been detained in Poland, suspected of preparing sabotage actions. They spied on military facilities and critical infrastructure, according to the authorities' accusation.
Recently, this has been happening more and more often in Poland, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said in this regard, quoted by "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" (FAC). "The services are constantly neutralizing the threat," he told the publication. When asked if Russia is behind this, the minister answers in the affirmative: "Yes, for the most part." In his words, Russia has entered "a phase of the Cold War against the entire EU, and we must prepare for such incidents to become more frequent."
Sabotage goes hand in hand with propaganda
Last year, nine people were arrested in Poland on suspicion of sabotage on behalf of Russia. Among them was a Ukrainian who was supposed to set fire to a paint factory in Wroclaw, as well as several alleged arsonists of a shopping mall in Warsaw in the spring of 2024. The fire destroyed 1,400 stores.
The incidents are always accompanied by a propaganda campaign on social media, the aim of which is to cause unrest and undermine trust in the government and state institutions, the FAC said.
After more than 20 Russian drones penetrated Polish airspace in mid-September, a powerful propaganda wave of fake news arose on the Internet, denying Russian involvement in these events and blaming Ukraine for them. At the same time, it was suggested that the Polish government was incapable of dealing with the threat and doubts were sown about NATO support. The messages were generally as follows: "This was staged by Ukraine to drag Poland into the conflict", "NATO will not protect us in the event of a serious conflict" and "Article Five is Dead".
Targeted messages aim to undermine trust
The cybersecurity department of "Google" - Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) - has analyzed many of these cases in its study. According to its authors, the disinformation campaign that followed the entry of the drones into Polish airspace was intended to deny Russia's responsibility and accuse the West and NATO of inventing pretexts to pursue their own political goals - for example, to provoke a war with Russia, explains the FACS.
Targeted messages are an attempt to undermine the population's trust in the government. In addition, many of the messages were aimed at destroying the positive attitude of Poles towards Ukraine. "Physical attacks and disinformation go hand in hand to undermine public trust in institutions," says CTIG's senior analyst John Hullqvist.
One of the most important channels for the dissemination of pro-Russian propaganda identified by GTIG is the online publication "Independent Political Newspaper" (Niezalezeny Dziennik Polityczny), most likely using fake faces or authors with accounts on many social media and various blogs. There, Poland's reactions to the drones were described as "war hysteria" intended to distract the Polish people from other problems. It also suggested that Poland had been informed about the drones in advance and that the majority of Poles blamed Ukraine, NATO or the government for the incident.
Poland and NATO are a priority for Russian propaganda
A user calling himself "Portal Kombat" and administrating a network of Internet domains that distribute pro-Russian content, disputes that Russian drones can even reach Poland - an argument that was also used by the Kremlin after the incident. Other texts claim that the videos with the drones in the Polish media are fake and that Russia has no intention of attacking Poland: "Moscow does not need this at all. And if it did, not eight, but 800 drones would come at once." These texts are spreading at breakneck speed on social networks, including Telegram.
According to the study, disinformants have also used portals that copy serious and established media. A portal "German Intelligence" (Deutsche Intelligenz) was created especially for the German-speaking target group, suggesting that NATO is using the drone incident as a pretext to provoke war with Russia.
These examples show "how influential figures throughout the pro-Russian ecosystem have optimized their activities to be able to react to geopolitical events", the "Google" experts also point out. With a stream of disinformation, they are trying to "manipulate public opinion" to cause fear and sow uncertainty and doubts among vulnerable groups of the population, they add. "Hidden information campaigns and the spread of disinformation are an increasingly important part of the efforts of Russian actors to impose their interests."
The large-scale mobilization after the incident with the Russian drones is another sign that Poland and its NATO allies are a priority target for Russian propaganda, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" also writes.