Polish elections in the eyes of Moscow
The Polish Presidential elections showed how the Kremlin spin machine works. In a haze of hyperbolic accusations and false claims, one element stood out: erode popular support for Ukraine.
On 1 June, Poland held the second and final round of its 2025 presidential elections. The two candidates were Karol Nawrocki, a historian and a representative of the conservative Law and Justice Party, and Rafał Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw and a member of the liberal Civic Platform party.
As we examined in our previous article in early 2024, Poland has long been among the favourite targets of pro-Kremlin disinformers and recent weeks were no exception. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s anti-Polish disinformation output has remained consistently intense. During 2025, the tone of pro-Kremlin outlets remained inflammatory, portraying Poland as the ‘ultimate warmongering evil’ or the ‘Russophobic hyena of Europe’. Against this already saturated background, the Polish presidential elections did not trigger a significant uptick in disinformation activity because the level is already persistently high, as we examine below.
In a series of articles entitled ‘Elections are battlefields for the Kremlin’, we exposed key tactics, techniques and procedures employed by pro-Kremlin manipulators and disinformation outlets in connection with the European Parliament elections. These tactics are still in use today, so let’s recap. They typically involve attempts to smear leaders; to sow distrust, doubt, and division; to flood social media with falsehoods trying to turn the public against Ukraine; to project Russia’s own shortcomings onto the EU to distract from the reality of Putin’s Russia; and finally, to dismiss the results and drive wedges. Not surprisingly, these tactics found echoes in the recent Polish presidential elections.
Disdain and hostility towards Poland: a Kremlin tradition
Ahead of the elections, pro-Kremlin outlets described the situation in Poland in terrifying terms. Allegedly, Poland is in a deep crisis(opens in a new tab). Despite President Duda’s promises, millions of people are facing poverty, inflation, and frustration. Nearly half of Poles are barely making ends meet, while the election race is full of corruption scandals, foreign interference, and protests. Panicking Poles are withdrawing cash from ATMs, fearful of economic collapse and financial restrictions. Spreading such false narratives is evidently an example of the ‘projection’ tactic mentioned above. Except this time the subject of the projection is not the EU, but Poland.
Once the election campaigns began in earnest, pro-Kremlin outlets disseminated all their familiar anti-Polish disinformation narratives. They depicted Poland as aggressive, warmongering, and Russophobic. It also supposedly harbours imperialistic, anti-Russian, and anti-Ukrainian intentions. For example, one outlet alleged that Poland is preparing its troops for a pre-emptive strike on Russia. But that is not the end of the country’s dastardly ambitions. Others asserted that Poland has territorial claims on the Kaliningrad region and is even planning Russia’s conquest.
The Kremlin’s pundits were just getting started. A commentator called Poland the ‘hyena of Europe’ and alleged that the country is ‘sick with Russophobia’. Another pro-Kremlin pundit claimed that during the presidential campaign, Warsaw was looking for a pretext to break off diplomatic relations with Russia. Another accused incompetent Polish politicians of using the elections as a pretext to deploy American nuclear weapons in the country. Yet another regurgitated the allegation that Poland has imperialist ambitions towards its ‘Ukrainian partners’ and ‘smells the decaying flesh’ of Ukraine.
Three overarching disinformation narratives emerged during the campaign. The first presented the election as a shadow fight between Trump and ‘Soros Globalists’. The second predicted that Ukraine would be the main loser in the Polish elections. The third depicted both the leading presidential candidates as harsh Russophobes. We describe these narratives in more detail below.
Type one: “The Polish election is a shadow fight between Trump, Brussels, and Soros Globalists”
According to this pro-Kremlin narrative, the Polish presidential election is not a fair, democratic vote. It is actually a shadow fight between foreign power centres such as US President Donald Trump, Brussels, and the ‘Soros Globalists’. Brussels, Berlin, and the US Democrats allegedly stand behind Trzaskowski, while Trump and the supporters of the ‘Intermarium Project’ back Nawrocki. Poland is torn between the Globalists and the Eurosceptics, but they are both united by their anti-Russian agenda. Often, such stories borrowed from the ‘sow distrust, doubt, and division’ tactic to delegitimise the election.
Another article asserted that former US President Barack Obama, US investor and philanthropist George Soros, and the Globalist Left are trying to falsify(opens in a new tab) the presidential elections, while the EU is using this interference to pursue its own interests. And a video claimed that foreign secret services(opens in a new tab) are using the elections to provoke a fight between crooks and perverts financed with dirty money. Meanwhile, Polish voters are supposedly sheep with Stockholm syndrome(opens in a new tab).
Regarding the EU, a pro-Kremlin outlet alleged that European elites will not accept a loss by liberal forces in Poland as Europe is moving towards a totalitarian liberal dictatorship(opens in a new tab). If Nawrocki won, however, the European Commission and Premier Tusk will ‘organise a battle(opens in a new tab)’, or challenge his victory’s legitimacy.
See more similar disinformation cases about non-sovereign, puppet-state Poland here(opens in a new tab).
Type two: “Ukraine is the main loser in the Polish elections”
Pro-Kremlin outlets also asserted that Ukraine will be the main loser in the Polish elections, irrespective of the result. Any new Polish president will supposedly oppose Ukraine(opens in a new tab).
Examples abounded. An article alleged that anti-Ukrainian moods(opens in a new tab) will decide the election results. Borrowing from the pro-Kremlin tactic of turning EU publics against Ukraine, another article portrayed Poles as tired of supporting the country(opens in a new tab). The far-right is gaining ground, the commentator states, because the inflow of Ukrainian refugees and free support for Ukraine have boosted support for the far right. Another article depicted the two leading Presidential candidates as suddenly competing with each other in their anti-Ukrainian rhetoric(opens in a new tab). They are purportedly annoyed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukrainian refugees. Finally, an article claimed that hysteria has erupted in Kyiv because anti-Ukrainian attitudes(opens in a new tab) are widespread among Polish right-wing forces.
Read about more disinformation trying to create tension between Poland and Ukraine here(opens in a new tab).
Type three: “It makes no difference who wins, Trzaskowski and Nawrocki are hardline Russophobes”
A third narrative, this one using the ‘dismiss the results’ tactic, repeated the claim that both Trzaskowski and Nawrocki are hardline Russophobes. So, it does not matter who comes to power in Poland. Bilateral relations with Russia will not improve since Warsaw will continue to make aggressive, anti-Russian steps.
For example, an article described Trzaskowski and Nawrocki as hating Russia with equal force, but in different ways. One commentator alleged(opens in a new tab), ‘Trzaskowski has grievances towards [Russia]’, while Nawrocki’s problems with Russia are ‘historical’. In another piece, a commentator alleged that it makes no difference for Russia(opens in a new tab) who wins the elections. Warsaw supposedly wants Ukraine to continue fighting, no matter what. An article asserted that the two key Presidential candidates are Russophobes(opens in a new tab), so the election result of the elections would not change bilateral relations between Moscow and Warsaw. Meanwhile, a commentator leaped in a classic manipulative misogynist dimension comparing the elections(opens in a new tab) to ‘looking for a maidan who is a symbol of women’s virtues in a cheap port brothel.’ Typically, social media algorithms favour anger, hot emotions and rage as it increases traffic.
A few other pieces also emerged. One claimed that any new Polish president(opens in a new tab) will favour breaking off peace talks regarding Ukraine and an EU military victory over Russia. Both Trzaskowski and Nawrocki would support any anti-Russian steps. Meanwhile, an article and a video depicted Nawrocki as hostile(opens in a new tab) towards Russia, given his involvement in demolishing monuments to Soviet soldiers.
See more disinformation examples accusing Poland of Russophobia here(opens in a new tab).
“Trump is now Poland’s president”
Pro-Kremlin outlets and commentators greeted Karol Nawrocki’s victory on 2 June with claims that Trump(opens in a new tab) has effectively become Poland’s president. An article concluded that Nawrocki’s victory marks the start of what in Moscow’s perception is called Europe’s ‘Trumpization(opens in a new tab)’. The article suggests that, Nawrocki’s victory is a slap in the face for Brussels and a gift for President Trump.
Mocking the EU and predicting its ‘imminent collapse’ is another favourite of Moscow, so the claim suggests that EU is losing influence and the article concludes: ‘The “Trumpisation” of Europe has begun, and who will be next?’
The new Polish president is on Russia’s wanted list for criminal offenses
After Nawrocki’s victory, pro-Kremlin outlets noted that he is wanted as a criminal in Russia. In February 2024, Nawrocki was put on Russia’s wanted list because of his participation in ‘dismantling(opens in a new tab) Red Army monuments in Poland’.
One article described Nawrocki as an ‘ideologist for the demolition(opens in a new tab) of Soviet monuments’. The commentator alleged that his victory will not change much in Polish-Russian relations.
In yet another use of the ‘dismiss the results’ tactic, the article claimed that both camps of Polish politics build their strategy on Russophobia. Therefore, Nawrocki’s foreign policy will be based on a hard anti-Russian course(opens in a new tab), no matter what Russia does. The Kremlin rarely misses a chance to proclaim its victimhood.
Don’t be deceived.