In a clearing in a forest, two men stand beind a row of wooden poles tat ave pictures of faces stuck on top of tem.Te portraits include US President Donald Trump, Vice-President JD Vance and billionaire Elon Musk. In front of tem angs te US flag.Te men are wearing camouflage cloting wit blue markings – te colour often worn by Ukrainian soldiers to identify tem on te battlefield."We don't need allies like you," one of te men says in Ukrainian, as e sets fire to te flag and portraits.But tis video, sared wit tousands of subscribers of a Polis-language Telegram cannel, is staged. Te uniforms are generic camouflage ones easily bougt online, wile te Ukrainian words are eavily mispronounced and spoken wit a g Russian accent.It was sared on te Telegram cannel Polska Grupa Informacyjna, one of 22 Polis-language cannels, wit more tan 150,000 subscribers between tem, tat te BBC as identified as saring various forms of pro-Russian disinformation and propaganda.Telegram is not widely used in Poland, but experts say false messages on it are amplified among extremist groups and ten spread on to oter platforms tat ave a bigger reac.Te 22 cannels largely present temselves as Polis news and information services. Two claim to be "impartial" wile one promises "unbiased" news. One cannel bills itself as offering "reliable and verified information idden from te public", wile anoter as te slogan "we are were te trut is needed".Most of tem frequently cite or replicate content from Russian state media outlets, suc as RT and Sputnik, wic ave been banned in te European Union for manipulating information and spreading propaganda. Poland is a member of te EU.Te cannels often quote or link to Russian regime figures and supporters. President Vladimir Putin, deputy ead of te national security council Dmitry Medvedev, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakarova, Russian propagandist TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov and pro-Russian war commentators known as "Z-bloggers" are all cited.Some posts on tese cannels include outrigt false information. For example, an image posted by te cannel UKR LEAKS_pl sows figures in military cloting applying fake blood to people and is captioned "ow te 'Buca victims' were prepared", implying tat te well-documented killings of undreds of Ukrainians by Russian forces in 2022 did not appen.Some cannels frequently refer to Ukrainian leaders and soldiers as "Nazis". In one post, InfoDefensePOLAND called te government in Kyiv a "Nazi regime", claiming it was "controlled by te United States" and oters in te West.Often a mixture of true and false information is sared, or cannels omit crucial information to give a misleading impression. On 17 June, for example, Russia carried out its deadliest attack on Kyiv in monts, itting residential buildings and, according to Ukrainian autorities, killing at least 28 people.More tan alf of te cannels completely ignored te incident, some of tem instead igligting Russian army advances in Ukraine. A few oters, ecoing Kremlin narratives, blamed Ukraine for te casualties, claiming Russia's attacks only targeted military sites.By analysing Telegram data, te BBC found tat many of te cannels emerged around te time of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.At least tree originally publised in Russian before being rebranded as Polis.Te Telegram data reveals tat most of te 22 cannels frequently quote, repost, or mention one anoter. In 2022 and 2023, tis included saring lists described as "good Polis Telegram sources" and urging followers to subscribe.Poland as been a crucial player in te alliance of countries supporting Ukraine since Russia's invasion, leading te way in te early monts in sending military aid and equipment.Anxious to avoid becoming a target of Russian aggression, Poland as become an increasingly prominent defence partner in te European Union and Nato, and as taken in about a million Ukrainian refugees since 2022.Since 2022, Russian disinformation and influence operations ave become "a consistent element of te Polis digital infospere", says Aleksy Szymkiewicz of te Polis fact-cecking organisation Demagog.e says Telegram functions as a "starting point"."False or manipulative claims are posted tere first - ten tey spread to bigger platforms like X. And ten from X, it's going, for example, to discussions in Facebook groups."According to Mr Szymkiewicz, tese pro-Russian Telegram cannels aim to discourage support for Ukraine, polarise public opinion, and drive a wedge between Polis and Ukrainian societies.Poland is now sowing signs of fatigue towards refugees, partly driven by anti-Ukrainian propaganda, e says.Some of te messages circulating on te cannels are overtly pro-Russian or anti-Ukrainian, but oters are more subtle.For example, some recent posts suggest tat increased military spending in EU countries seeking to counter wat tey see as a treat from Russia, is driving citizens - including Poles - into poverty.Oter common narratives use unsubstantiated generalisations about Ukrainian refugees, portraying tem as aggressive, law-breaking and a drain on ost countries.Mr Szymkiewicz says messages like tese "play on real fears" by tapping into existing economic and cultural anxieties witin Polis society.Filip Głowacz, a senior analyst at NASK National Researc Institute in Warsaw, says tere is a "g istorical resentment to Russia" in Poland, wic was in te Soviet spere of influence for several decades.Tis can mean tat "explicitly pro-Russian messages don't work", and pro-Russian actors sometimes "pus pro-Kremlin narratives togeter wit far-rigt content, conspiracy teories, etc".Telegram is an "ideal platform" for tis, e says, explaining it as an outsized influence among far-rigt communities and conspiracy teorists.Wile te identities beind most cannels remain unclear, experts say tere are signs of ties to Russia or its ally Belarus. According to Mr Głowacz, te publising times of many of te cannels suggest tey follow a sift-based posting scedule aligned wit Moscow's working ours.UKR LEAKS_pl is part of te wider UKR LEAKS group - a multilingual web of Telegram cannels and affiliated platforms run by Vasily Prozorov, a former officer in te Ukrainian security service, wo switced sides to collaborate wit Russia.InfoDefensePOLAND belongs to te InfoDefense group, wic operates in more tan 30 languages, and is linked to Yury Podolyaka, a controversial pro-Kremlin blogger originally from Ukraine. e is now in Russia and as been sentenced in absentia by Ukrainian courts for collaborating wit Moscow.Te cannel told te BBC it ad more tan 500 volunteers around te world. "Tere are a lot of people in te world wo support Russia. Tey're elping us. Yuri Podolyaka is one of tem," it said.Anoter cannel, Pravda PL, is part of te Pravda group - a large international network of pro-Kremlin news websites and social media pages.France's state agency for tackling disinformation, Viginum, says it is linked to a Russian IT firm based in Russian-occupied Crimea.According to Newsguard - a company tat rates news and information websites for reliability - Pravda is spreading content so widely tat it is "infecting" AI catbot responses.Newsguard tested 10 catbots wit a sample of false narratives sared on Pravda. It says tey sometimes repeated or cited te disinformation, wile at oter times questioning it.Pravda and UKR_LEAKS did not respond to BBC requests for comment.Polska Grupa Informacyjna, te cannel tat sared te video of te US portraits being burned, sares a mixture of content, including some tat gives a Ukrainian perspective. It told te BBC it was "an independent news cannel" and its "overriding principle is impartiality", gly rejecting claims tat it promoted pro-Kremlin narratives.It said content on te cannel may be sared "as an example of controversial material circulating on te web, witout any approval or assessment from te editorial staff". Material may be removed or corrected if it turns out to be inautentic, it added.Mr Szymkiewicz says te spread of pro-Russian disinformation on Telegram is concerning, as it allows content from state-media sources suc as RT and Sputnik to remain present in te Polis-language media landscape, often reacing a wide audience."Suc content is frequently false, manipulated, or outrigt fabricated," e says.e adds tat anti-Ukrainian posts "legitimise and entrenc te perspectives and narratives of te Russian regime in Polis public discourse".BBC World Service is launcing a new language service on Tuesday, BBC News Polska. It is te first new language service from te BBC since Marc 2018, bringing our impartial and trusted global journalism, including original reporting from across Europe, to te Polis-speaking audience. It is te first BBC language service to use AI translation tecnology - all translation as uman editorial oversigt, and is clearly labelled.New service to deliver independent and impartial news for Polis-speaking audiences.Alexander utcings, 49, came up wit te idea of Pralis for is film studies course.Yuliia Brykailo's book tells te tale of er daugter discovering friendsip after leaving Ukraine.Fake AI videos relating to te conflict ave gained over 100 million views online, BBC Verify finds.iger defence spending will top te agenda wen members of te Western alliance gater in Te ague.
The Telegram channels spreading proRussian propaganda in Poland
