WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland has identified a Russian group tasked with influencing Polish elections through disinformation and stoking instability, Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said on Friday.
Poland will hold a presidential election in mid-May and authorities fear that Russian intelligence services may try to influence them in reprisal for Poland’s involvement in helping neighbouring Ukraine.
Warsaw says its role as a hub for supplies to Ukraine has made it a target for spies working for Russia and its ally Belarus, as well as for acts of sabotage. Minsk and Moscow have dismissed accusations that they are behind acts of sabotage.
In December, fellow NATO and European Union member Romania annulled a presidential election after accusations of Russian meddling, which Moscow denied.
“In recent days, a Russian group has been identified, another one that was inspired and prepared by the Russian military intelligence GRU, whose goal is to influence the Polish elections,” Gawkowski, who is also Minister of Digital Affairs, said on the private television TVN24.
The Russian embassy in Warsaw, contacted by Reuters, said it had no information on the matter.
Gawkowski did not give any other details about the alleged group, saying only that it was “spreading disinformation, false information” and “recruiting people who … would destroy the coherence of the political scene in Poland”.
“Not only the Polish political scene, but also the Polish elections,” he added. Though it is a Russian group, Gawkowski said, “it can recruit various people”.
“We have very efficient services… that deal with the protection of the Republic of Poland. They have knowledge, and we identify these as actions that are intended to influence Polish elections,” Gawkowski said.
“Russia is waging cyberwar on Poland. We are the most attacked country in the European Union, and the elections are to be a test of whether Polish democracy will survive.”
(Reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz, additional reporting by Alan Charlish; Editing by William Maclean and Gareth Jones)
