Russian Cyberattack Sparks Disinformation Chaos in Poland Ahead of Elections

Poland's state news agency, PAP, suffered a likely Russian cyberattack, leading to the dissemination of false news about military mobilization. The incident, involving two false articles, occurred just before European Parliament elections. Polish authorities, including the Internal Security Agency, are investigating the incident, while Moscow denies any involvement.

Poland's state news agency was probably hit by a Russian cyberattack on Friday, a government official said, after a false article about military mobilisation appeared on its news feed. Warsaw has repeatedly accused Moscow of attempting to destabilise Poland because of its role in supplying military aid to Ukraine, allegations Russian officials have dismissed.

"Due to the probable Russian cyberattack on the Polish Press Agency and disinformation about the alleged mobilisation in Poland, the Internal Security Agency, in cooperation with the Ministry of Digitisation took immediate action," Jacek Dobrzynski, spokesperson of the minister coordinating special services, wrote on X. The Russian embassy in Warsaw said had no knowledge of the incident and declined further comment.

Jan Grabiec, the head of the prime minister's office, said Poland's special services were investigating the incident. The article that appeared twice on the PAP newswire, days before an election to the European Parliament, said Prime Minister Donald Tusk would mobilise 200,000 people to fight in Ukraine.

"The false article was published twice on Friday - at 14.00 and 14.20," PAP wrote. "It was withdrawn both times. After the first withdrawal, it was re-released." PAP said it was looking into the circumstances surrounding the incident.