Is Poland awash with Russian disinformation? PM Tusk warns against anti-Ukrainian narratives

An explosion on a railway track near the village of Mika on Sunday night damaged part of the line that carries aid into Ukraine, an incident senior figures in the Polish government said was an act of sabotage by Russian intelligence.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that two Ukrainian citizens working for Russia and known to Polish authorities are suspected of blowing up the railway line.

"All facts point to a Russian trace," Tusk said.

Yet European research, analytics and advisory collective Res Futura Data House analysed thousands of online comments about the incident and found that 42% of the people posting blamed Ukrainians for the sabotage.

"The largest number of comments suggest that people of Ukrainian origin are behind the incident," Res Futura wrote in a post on X.

"These indications are often based on previous events, such as fires at facilities in Poland, vandalism or the presence of Ukrainians near strategic infrastructure," the organisation added.

"It is often hypothesised that these actions were retaliatory or provocative, allegedly to draw Poland into a direct conflict with Russia."

Only 24% of the statements blamed Russians for the attack, while 19% of the comments put the blame on services linked to the Polish state.

According to Res Futura, the proliferation of these false claims may be linked to a decline in the effectiveness of the country's Internal Security Agency (ABW).

While presenting the latest information to parliament, Tusk warned against the spread of anti-Ukrainian sentiment and disinformation online.

"It is becoming increasingly easy to whip up anti-Ukrainian resentments for known reasons, as more and more Polish citizens are carrying the burden of the fact that we are hosting such a large number of refugees and migrants," he said.

"From the point of view of Russian interests, the awakening of radically anti-Ukrainian emotions, disinformation of the type that Ukrainian drones are attacking Poland or that Ukrainians are blowing up trains, have a double value for Russian services."

The prime minister also said that it is in Russia's interest to divide the West and divert it from the needs of Ukraine, which is much weaker without international support.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski also published a post on X, advocating solidarity with Ukraine and highlighting the benefits to Russia of spreading disinformation and anti-Ukrainian narratives in Poland.

"Some people, especially on the right, have never mentally entered the Union and the Union is still some 'them' for them," Sikorski wrote.

"Those who blame Ukraine for Russia's actions in Poland are political saboteurs...Russia spends billions on fuelling such sentiments, on disinformation and propaganda."

"It wants to set a part of public opinion against our neighbours, against the EU and against refugees from Ukraine who have fled to Poland from Russian bombs," Sikorski concluded.

Despite appeals from those in power, anti-Ukrainian content is increasingly appearing in the statements of public figures in Poland, blaming the Ukrainians for acts of sabotage and division and falsely suggesting that they are in the interests of the government in Kyiv.

Leader of the far-right Polish Crown Confederation party and MEP Grzegorz Braun called the explosion "another anti-Polish provocation" which "warmongers are trying to use to escalate tensions" in a post on X.

Roman Fritz, vice-president of the Polish Crown Confederation, said on X that "the saboteurs traditionally turned out to be Ukrainian citizens."

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Leszek Miller hypothesised online that Ukrainian citizens are very often behind acts of sabotage and that "no one has more practical experience in detecting, analysing and organising explosions on railway tracks than Ukrainians."

Miller did not provide any examples to support his claims.

The leader of the far-right Confederation, currently the third political force in Poland, Sławomir Mentzen, linked Russian intelligence activities with the migration of Ukrainian citizens to Poland.

"They let in a Ukrainian who had been convicted of sabotage there and who has now blown up tracks in Poland. We cannot let everyone in. Poland must vet people who want to come to us!" he posted.

The Polish Ministry of Digitalisation warned on its website against disinformation about the rail explosion and urged people to be extra cautious about reports appearing online and try to verify information.

"Disinformation activity conducted in the Russian and Polish infosphere has been identified since Sunday," the ministry said.

"It is intended to redirect responsibility for the sabotage of the Polish railway lines to the Ukrainian side and to discredit the actions taken by the Polish services responsible for security," it concluded.

This text was translated with the help of artificial intelligence and reviewed by our editorial team. Report a problem : [feedback-articles-en@euronews.com].