The Telegram channels spreading pro-Russian propaganda in Poland

In the clearing in a forest, two men stand behind a row of wooden columns that contain pictures of stuck faces on top.

The photos include US President Donald Trump, Vice President GD Verse and billionaire Elon Musk. In front of them, the flag of the United States.

Men wear camouflaged clothes with blue marks – a color that Ukrainian soldiers often wear to get to know them in the battlefield.

“We do not need allies like you,” says one of the men in the Ukrainian language.

But this video, with thousands of subscribers to the Polish Telegram channel, is shown. The uniform is the general fund that is easily purchased online, while the Ukrainian words were greatly subjected to a strong Russian accent.

He shared on Telegram Polska Grupa Informacyjna channel, one of 22 Polish channels, with more than 150,000 subscribers between them, which was determined by the BBC as sharing different forms of misinformation in Russia and propaganda.

Telegram is not widely used in Poland, but experts say the wrong messages on them are enlarged between extremist groups and then spread to other platforms that have greater access.

The 22 channel is largely provided by them as Polish news and information services. Two of the two they are “neutral” while one of the unbiased “news” is. One of the channels itself is presented as “reliable and hidden information about the audience”, while another contains the slogan “We are where the truth is needed.”

Most often cite or repeat content from Russian government media, such as RT and Sputnik, which was banned in the European Union for manipulating information and spreading advertising. Poland is a member of the European Union.

Channels are often quoted or linked to the characters of the Russian system and supporters. President Vladimir Putin, Vice -President of the National Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, the Russian propaganda TV presenter Vladimir Solovioff, and suspended by the Russian war known as “Zodin’s colleagues”.

Some posts on these channels include explicit wrong information. For example.

Some channels repeatedly refer to Ukrainian leaders and soldiers as “Nazis”. In one, InfodeFensepoland described the government in Kyiv as the “Nazi System”, claiming it “controlled by the United States” and others in the West.

A mixture of real information and error is often shared, or the decisive information channels are deleted to give a misleading impression. On June 17, for example, Russia carried out its bloody attack on Kyiv months ago, hitting residential buildings, and according to the Ukrainian authorities, killing at least 28 people.

He ignored more than half of the channels completely, and some highlight the progress of the Russian army in Ukraine. A few others, echoing the Kremlin novels, blame Ukraine for losses, claiming that Russia’s attacks only target military sites.

By analyzing Telegram data, the British Broadcasting Corporation found that many channels appeared soon from Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

At least three were originally published in the Russian language before reincarnation as the Polish.

Telegram data reveals that most of the 22 channels are quoted repeatedly, repeated or mentioned each other. In 2022 and 2023, the participation lists described as “good telegram sources” included and urged followers to subscribe.

Poland was an important player in the coalition of countries that support Ukraine since the invasion of Russia, as it led the road in the first months of sending military aid and equipment.

Equate to avoid becoming a target of Russian aggression, Poland has become an increasingly prominent defensive partner in the European Union and NATO, and has acquired about a million Ukrainian refugees since 2022.

Since 2022, Russian misinformation and influence have become “a fixed element in the Polish digital Invosfir,” says Alexei Szim Qayk of the Polish fact -examination organization.

He says Telegram works as a “starting point”.

“Wrong allegations or manipulation are spread there first – then spread to larger platforms like X. And then from X, they will launch, for example, to discussions in Facebook groups.”

According to Mr. Sizymkiewicz, these telegrams supporting Russia aims to inhibit the support of Ukraine, attract public opinion, and a wedge leadership between Polish and Ukrainian societies.

Poland is now showing signs of fatigue towards refugees, which he partially leads with anti -Ukrainian propaganda.

Some of the messages scattered on the channels are in public or anti -hypocritical, but each other is more accurate.

For example, some recent publications indicate that increasing military spending in European Union countries seeks to confront what they see as a threat from Russia, and it pushes citizens – including columns – to poverty.

Other common novels use unfounded generalizations of Ukrainian refugees, and perceive them as aggressive, penetrate the law and drain in host countries.

Mr. Sizymkiewicz says about messages such as “playing real fears” by taking advantage of the current economic and cultural concerns within the Polish society.

“There is” a strong historical resentment of Russia “in Poland, who was in the field of Soviet influence for several decades.

This can mean that “Russian -supporting messages explicitly do not work”, and sometimes the actors supporting Russia lead to the accounts of the Kremlin with a distant right -wing content, conspiracy theories, etc.

He says Telegram is an “perfect platform” for this purpose, explaining that it has a major impact among the developed right -wing societies and conspiracy theorists.

While the identities behind most channels are still unclear, experts say there are signs of relations with Russia or its ally. According to Mr. GłOWCZ, publishing times for many channels indicate that they follow a publishing schedule based on the transformation that is in line with Moscow’s working hours.

Leaks_PL is part of the Ocker Ocker Group – a multi -language network of Telegram channels and subsidiary platforms run by Vasily Bruzorov, a former officer in the service of Ukrainian security, who turned aspects to cooperate with Russia.

Infdefensepoland belongs to the Infodefense collection, which works in more than 30 languages, and is associated with YURY PODOLYAKA, a controversial blogger pro -Kremlin originally from Ukraine. He is now in Russia and was sentenced in the absence of Ukrainian courts to cooperate with Moscow.

The BBC channel has told more than 500 volunteers all over the world. “There are many people in the world who support Russia. They are helping us. Yuri Podolaka is one of them,” he said.

Another channel, Pravda Pl, is part of the Pravda collection – a large international network of news and social media and social pages.

The government agency in France to process misleading information says it is linked to the Russian -based Crimean Information Technology Company.

According to Newsguard – a company that manufactures news and information information sites – Pravda spreads widely to the extent that it “affects” AI Chatbot responses.

Test NewSguard 10 Chatbots with a sample of wrongful wrong novels on Pravda. She says they are sometimes repeated or cited misleading information, while they wonder at other times.

Pravda and UKR_LEAKS did not respond to the BBC requests for comment.

Polska Grupa Informacyjna, the channel that has shared the video of the American with the American with a mixture of content, including some who give a Ukrainian perspective. BBC told it that it was a “independent news channel” and “its predominant principle is neutral”, and he strongly rejected the allegations that she promoted the accounts of the supporter of the Kremlin.

He said that the content on the channel may be shared “as an example of the controversial materials that revolve on the Internet, without any approval or evaluation from the editorial staff.” He added that the materials may be removed or corrected if it turns out to be incorrect.

Mr. Sizymkiewicz says that the spread of Russia -supporting information on the telegram is concerned, because it allows the content of state media sources such as RT and Sputnik to stay present in the Polish media scene, and often reaches a wide audience.

“This content is often wrong, processor, or explicit fabric,” he says.

He adds that anti -Ukrainian jobs “give the views and accounts of the Russian regime in the Polish public discourse.”

BBC World Service launches a new language service on Tuesday, BBC News Polska. It is the first new linguistic service from the BBC since March 2018, as it provides neutral and reliable international press, including original reports from all over Europe, to the Polish speaking public. It is the first BBC language that uses artificial intelligence translation technology – all translation has a human editorial supervision, and is clearly classified.