According to The Insider, the Kremlin media is complaining about Russophobia in Poland, citing the Polish newspaper Mysl Polska.
“RIA Novosti” and “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” republished an article by Mysl Polska in which its author (who is also the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Jan Engelgard) complained that Poland “is unable to see the real situation in Ukraine” because of its Russophobia. In general, the material is a set of fakes that Vladimir Putin’s regime has been foisting on Russians all these years.
Among other absurdities, the Polish author argues that a large part of Ukrainians are still in favor of Russia, but are afraid to express their opinions due to the “forced military situation of national unity.” According to Engelgard, even those Ukrainians who fled the war to Poland actually support the Russian Federation. How does he support this thesis? By nothing.
“Between themselves, when no one listens to them, [refugees] speak Russian,” the article says. This is yet another example of spreading Russian propaganda narratives and playing along with Russian rhetoric that all who speak Russian are Russians and part of the Russian world.
The U.S. does not claim to own every person in the world who speaks English. Former colonial empires such as Great Britain, France, or Spain have spread their languages over many continents, but they do not pretend to appropriate the citizens of independent states who speak their language. And only Russia can afford this blatantly fascist and imperial language discourse.
Nevertheless, there is little point in refuting a totally propagandistic paper. But Mysl Polska itself is noteworthy, coming out almost daily with stories praising Putin and justifying the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In August 2022, Slovak, Czech, and Polish investigators discovered that the Polish newspaper supplied content to one of the most odious Russian propaganda outlets, NewsFront, which, as The Insider wrote, was affiliated with the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the NewsFront site in 2021 for its ties to Russian intelligence services.
European journalists noticed that much of the article in the Polish version of NewsFront was simply copied from the Mysl Polska website.
“…(more than 7 percent of all content published by NewsFront are reprints from MP).
Our analysis shows that more than 200 articles from Mysl Polska were reprinted in the Polish version of NewsFront. At least 10 articles from Mysl Polska were translated into Russian and published on the Russian version of NewsFront.”
Fascists and marginals: who is behind the newspaper?
The editor-in-chief of Mysl Polska is nationalist Jan Engelgard, who wrote the book The Russophobia Virus.
Mateusz Piskorski, a former MP who in 2016 was accused of spying for Russia and China (a criminal investigation is ongoing), is also a regular contributor to the paper. Piskorski was also the founder and leader of the pro-Kremlin Peremena party, and he founded the European Center for Geopolitical Analysis. According to OCCRP, in May 2013, the organization received 21,000 euros through Crystalord Ltd., which investigators described as part of a “Russian financial ‘mega laundry’”. The purpose of the payment to the Center is listed as “consulting services.”
Piskorski was also an observer at the sham referendum on the annexation of Crimea by Russia. In 2014, he attended a conference in St. Petersburg entitled “Neofascism in Europe: 70 Years Later,” organized by the Andrew the Apostle (Andrey Pervozvanyy) Foundation and the Center for National Glory, led by Vladimir Yakunin, a former president of Russian Railways and Putin’s associate in the Ozero cooperative.
Ironically, Piskorski himself is an outspoken admirer of National Socialism, a Holocaust denier, an author of articles for the White World portal and the newspaper I am Russian, and the former editor-in-chief of the Polish skinhead magazine Odala, which praised the “Aryan race” and Adolf Hitler.
Piskorski’s European Center for Geopolitical Analysis promotes the ideas of Eurasianism, the ideologist of which is the Russian “philosopher”-fascist Alexander Dugin. Not surprisingly, the latter’s articles regularly appear in Mysl Polska. The newspaper’s editorial board also published Dugin’s book, The Great Awakening Manifesto and Wartime Essays, which was translated and edited by Piskorski. Dugin’s admirers attempted to hold a book presentation at the Gdańsk Polytechnic University in October 2022, but after a wave of indignation, the university administration refused to lease the room.
Russia publicly talks about the “denazification” of Ukraine, but it is worth wondering where the real Nazis and fascists are. If European right-wing radicals support Russia, they probably understand Russia’s goals and ideology. Accordingly, maybe it’s time to think about the denazification of Russia.
Image source: Mysl Polska official Facebook account
