Amid strained relations between Poland and Ukraine, Poland’s Foreign Minister, Radosław Sikorski, has been sharing content published by Roman Giertych on his official X account – content that aligns directly with long-standing Russian propaganda narratives. Specifically, it echoes the Kremlin-promoted theory alleging that Poland harbors territorial ambitions toward western Ukraine.
The idea of dividing Ukraine’s territory between Poland and Russia has been one of the Kremlin’s favored propaganda narratives for years. It has been promoted by prominent Russian politicians such as Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Dmitry Medvedev.
These narratives have also found their way into certain circles in Poland. They are now being promoted by Roman Giertych, Deputy Chairman of Civic Platform. However, the theory claiming that Law and Justice (PiS) sought territorial gains in western Ukraine following the outbreak of Russia’s full-scale invasion had already been advanced by some of Civic Platform’s most ardent supporters. Giertych himself has acknowledged as much.
“I have written so many times that in 2022 PiS wanted to cooperate with Putin in the partition of Ukraine, but public sentiment in Poland made that impossible. People mocked me, even though I had information about serious talks conducted by Orbán – PiS’s closest ally – aimed in that direction. The same intention motivated Kaczyński and Morawiecki during their trip to Kyiv and in the proposal to deploy NATO (Polish) troops to western Ukraine. PiS politicians learned nothing from the history of Zaolzie. If they had the opportunity to enter into an alliance with Putin, they would have done so,” Giertych wrote on Tuesday morning.
The post, which amplifies a Russian propaganda narrative, was then reposted by Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski.
Giertych’s post was prompted by the fact that Zbigniew Bogucki, Head of the Chancellery of the President of Poland, used the term “Eastern Lesser Poland”, referring to the former southeastern voivodeships of the Second Polish Republic.
The actions of Giertych and Sikorski sparked numerous reactions.