Russian FSB launches falsified Volyn documents to strain Poland‑Ukraine ties

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), led by Director Alexander Bortnikov, has begun a coordinated disinformation campaign aimed at damaging the strategic partnership between Poland and Ukraine. State‑run outlets such as TASS, RT and Russia Today have published fabricated “archival” documents that claim the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) under Dmytro Klaczkiwski killed 11 Catholic priests and about 2,000 Polish civilians during the 1943 Volyn massacre.

Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, headed by Andrij Kovalenko, warned that the operation is intended to reopen historic wounds and provoke anti‑Polish sentiment, thereby weakening the Poland‑Ukraine alliance that underpins NATO’s eastern flank. The campaign coincides with a surge in Russian‑backed bot farms targeting Polish social‑media platforms and follows arrests of individuals allegedly paid by Moscow to organize anti‑Ukrainian rallies. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned of credible threats of Russian‑instigated provocations on Polish soil, and NATO intelligence has noted the broader security implications of the effort.