Putin Suggests Poland Eyes Parts of Ukraine; Polish MFA Condemns Primitive Disinformation

In a sharp response to Vladimir Putin’s claims regarding Ukraine’s territorial integrity and alleged Polish expansionist ambitions, the Polish Foreign Ministry firmly rejected the statements as a primitive disinformation campaign.

Polish Foreign Ministry Rejects Russian Speculation

In a Tuesday statement, the Polish Foreign Ministry unequivocally rejected false and baseless speculations by Russian leader Vladimir Putin concerning alleged imperialist ambitions of neighbors and the territorial division of Ukraine.

“Our position remains unchanged: we fully support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Russian disinformation will not distract from Moscow’s brutal aggression,” commented MFA spokesperson Maciej Wewiór.

Putin’s Claims on Ukraine’s Western Lands

The MFA’s statement was a response to Putin’s remarks from the previous Sunday. The Russian dictator stated that only Russia is the guarantor of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

“I am convinced that sooner or later Ukraine will lose its western lands. What belonged to Poland, what belonged to Hungary, what belonged to Romania, sooner or later, not tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow, in a year, two, 10, 15, but everything will work out historically. There was only one guarantor of Ukraine’s territorial integrity: Russia,” Putin said on Sunday at a meeting with Russian Navy servicemen in St. Petersburg.

MFA Addresses Information Warfare

The communique emphasized that Poland has not made, is not making, and does not intend to make territorial claims against Ukraine in the future. “Moscow’s suggestions about alleged plans to annex western lands of Ukraine by Poland, among others, constitute a primitive attempt at disinformation and are a permanent element of information warfare,” the statement reads.

The MFA added that the goal of these actions is to cause discord among European nations. “We call on the authorities of the Russian Federation to cease making territorial claims against their neighbors,” the MFA appealed.

Recurrent Russian Propaganda Regarding Poland

This is not the first time that Russian propaganda has promoted the thesis that Poland seeks to seize western Ukraine. At the end of 2022, the director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, claimed that Poland had intensified preparations to seize these territories.

He stated at the time that then-President Andrzej Duda had ordered the preparation of justifications for alleged Polish claims. Subsequently, such insinuations were also put forward by the Russian MFA and other institutions.