Poland's Foreign Ministry denies fake "referendum" on accession of Ukraine's western regions

Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Łukasz Jasina wrote about this on Twitter.

“Posts about the preparation for the referendum on the accession of the western regions of Ukraine to Poland are disinformation and another attempt to spark disputes between Poland and Ukraine,” Jasina tweeted. 

Poland's ministry of foreign affairs emphasized that the photo, which was supposed to confirm this, was fake, and the document presented on it “does not correspond to reality.”

On September 29, it was reported that Russian propaganda intensified the narrative that Poland seeks to occupy western Ukraine.  Allegedly, Poland intends to hold a "referendum" in the Lviv region regarding accession.

“Propaganda resources intensified the narrative about Poland's allegedly aggressive intentions to occupy Ukraine. Publications are accompanied by fake photos of ballots in which residents of the Lviv region are allegedly offered to leave Ukraine and become part of Poland,” the Center for Countering Disinformation wrote.

At the same time, Poland immediately denied the Russian fake news about the accession of the Lviv region. 

“Russian propaganda continues its informational attacks on Poland, repeating lies about the alleged plans of the Polish authorities to attack Ukraine and annex the western part of Ukraine,” Stanisław Żaryn, the Commissioner for Information Security of the Government of the Republic of Poland, tweeted. 

On November 14, we wrote that Russia has recently intensified its disinformation campaign against Poland and Ukraine. In particular, this applies to the narratives about “Poles' plans to seize western Ukraine” and that “a large number of Polish mercenaries are fighting for Ukraine.”

At the time, Stanisław Żaryn wrote that Russian propaganda actively worked to introduce this fake into the Western information environment, and these hostile efforts “fully correspond to the Kremlin's attempts to portray Poland as a warmonger and to isolate Warsaw in the international arena.”