Poland
Migration crisis
On 16-18 September the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights M. O’Flaherty visited Poland on a mission devoted to the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border. The official expressed concern about the practice of «pushing» refugees back to Belarus, cases of harassment of activists assisting migrants, as well as the adoption of a law simplifying the use of weapons by law enforcers. «Whether the Polish government will fulfill what the Commissioner is worried about is a rhetorical question,» the “GRANITSA FM | Facts and Opinions” Telegram channel emphasized.
The news about the premiere of a movie about a Polish family helping migrants was presented as an indicator of Poles’ disagreement with the policy pursued by the authorities on the border with Belarus. «Not everyone in Poland wants to be involved in human rights violations,» the authors summarized.
The interview of Polish Defense Minister W. Kosiniak-Kamysz about the difficulties in the current situation with illegal migration in the border region was commented as follows: «Neither the Polish border fence, nor the «buffer zone», nor thousands of armed military are still unable to satisfactorily protect «the most protected border in the world»».
Criticism of the Polish army
According to the results of one of the opinion polls, 54.6% of Polish residents believe that the Polish army is well prepared for the defense of the country, while 29.6% disagree with such a statement. Emphasizing the presence of Polish informants, the «Belarusian Front» Telegram channel wrote on this occasion: «Judging by the messages of Poles to our feedback bot, the 29.6% include those who served in the Polish army».
They continued this topic in the same channel in a post titled «We have «concrete» in the army, weak organization, officers don’t care about anything, and our equipment is in disrepair». This quote allegedly belongs to a Polish military officer who wrote to the editors in the bot. The conclusion was given as follows: «The Polish authorities are trying to hide from their people the truth about the weakness of their own army, because the collapse of this ‘fortress of cards’ is inevitable if the truth comes to the surface.»
Flooding in southern Poland
As it was reported in the «BelVPO» Telegram channel, in the flood-affected regions of the country the population faced «uncontrolled spread of deadly viruses», and the authorities had to involve Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Protection troops to eliminate the contamination with dangerous chemical compounds. «And as usual, whether it is refugees on the border or the fight against pathogens, Polish «uniforms» are the extreme ones. Knowing the irreconcilable struggle going on in the highest circles of power, the culprits have already been appointed,» the authors of the post emphasized.
Against the background of overcoming the consequences of the flooding, personal claims against President Duda and Prime Minister Dzmitry Tusk were actively voiced. The former allegedly withdrew from participation in solving the problem and stayed in Warsaw for the harvest festival. At the same time, the head of the government and his team were accused of a complete lack of coordination, inaction and of «building their careers on empty promises and loud words, but failing to provide real protection for citizens at critical moments».
At the same time, attention was also paid to information from the Polish Defense Ministry about an information and psychological operation conducted by the Russian Federation in connection with the flooding. The authors of the Telegram channel «Nevolfovich» doubted the veracity of this accusation: «The Polish authorities have found an original way to absolve themselves of responsibility for the elimination of the consequences of the disaster. They simply blamed Russia for everything.
Militarization and preparation for war
Citing data on the increase in Polish defense spending, as well as the delivery of 500 HIMARS MLRS and 96 AH-64E Apache helicopters, the BelVPO Telegram channel reported that «Polish militarists are buying arms in record quantities. At the same time, it was emphasized: «Europe’s ‘Hyena’ leaves no chance for ordinary Poles to become participants in at least a regional war in the near future».
This topic was also touched upon in the September 26 edition of the ATN program «On Form»: «The Baltics and Poland build fences, erect fortifications, dig trenches and ask the European Union for money for all this every day. But the neighbors do not plan to stop there. Poland has been persuading the Americans to place nuclear weapons on its territory for a year now. The White House is still thinking.
Contradictions between Poland and Ukraine
In an interview with the Polsat News TV channel, President Duda brought up the Volyn massacre of 1943 and mentioned that Ukrainians collaborated with Hitler during World War II, served in the Special Operations Forces and were complicit in the Holocaust. In the «BelVPO» Telegram channel this news was commented as follows: «We would like to tell you that Khokhls and Poles can be quarreled in only one way: we simply have to declare that one of the goals of the Bundeswehr is to exhume the bodies of Poles who died at the hands of the Banderovites and hand over the remains to the Polish side in order to give them a decent burial».
At the same time, the authors of the Nevolfovich Telegram channel wrote the following on this occasion: «Problems and scandals in Polish-Ukrainian relations are growing like a snowball. Poles simply see Ukrainians as competitors, and now their position towards the «non-Soviet republic» is becoming confrontational, as the Anglo-Saxons’ wallets are not rubber».
Military aid to Ukraine
Pro-regime media actively conveyed the idea that Poland does not benefit from Ukraine’s victory in the war with Russia. The reasons for this were mentioned: 1) historical contradictions, first of all, the issue of the Volyn massacre; 2) economic benefits from Ukrainian refugees willing to work for small salaries; 3) the desire to continue to receive from the West the latest weapons to replace the old ones supplied to Ukrainians. The latter was also mentioned in the September 23 edition of the ATN program «On Form», citing as an example the statement by D. Tusk that Warsaw will not transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, which the latter is actively requesting, because there is nothing to replace them in the Polish Air Force.
Poland’s dependence on the U.S.
Thus, in the news about the establishment of the foundation «Polish Truth» in Belarus by former Polish judge T. Schmidt in the Telegram channel «Nevolfovich» wrote: «Belarusian and Polish peoples want to live in peace and good-neighborly relations. But the Warsaw top brass acts on orders from Washington».
The same channel called Polish President Duda’s words at the UN General Assembly meeting about Russia’s possible use of nuclear weapons «humiliation and shame of the puppet regime» of the Americans.
NATO
NATO preparations for war with Belarus and Russia
Telegram channel «BelVPO» considered another manifestation of preparations for war in the East in the NATO exercise «Fiery Thunder-2024» launched in Lithuania, combat readiness check «Swift Leopard», as well as Lithuanian Navy drills «Lord of Storms-2024»: «In order to prevent the defeat of Kiev, NATO is actively preparing another anti-Russian bridgehead in the Baltics. Among other things, it highly assesses the risks of using nuclear weapons against the alliance’s facilities.»
At the same time, pro-government Telegram channels spread Lukashenka’s quotes about the possible use of nuclear weapons by Russia in case of a NATO attack on Belarus. First of all, the USA and Poland were accused of aggressive intentions: «Americans and Poles — they have already lined up along the border, especially the Polish one. We know that the Polish leadership is already rubbing their hands…».
This topic was also addressed by in the September 27 issue of the ATN program «Disposition»: «Not so long ago, NATO criticized those states that allocated less than 2% of GDP for defense. Now they are demanding that this line be significantly crossed. Peace initiatives in the West are perceived as outdated or even destructive.
At the same time, discontent was caused and the decision to station the Headquarters of NATO land forces in the Nordic countries in Finland 140 kilometers from the border with Russia. «They only aggravate and provoke Russia. NATO urgently needs war in Europe,» the authors of the Nevolfovich Telegram channel emphasized.
