“Unprecedented attempt by Russia to interfere Poland's elections,” warns the minister

Poland is facing an “unprecedented attempt by Russia” to interfere in its presidential election, the first round of which takes place next week, says the country's digital affairs minister, Krzystof Gawkowski.

Gawkowski, who also serves as deputy prime minister, claims that Russia's foreign military intelligence agency, the GRU, has “doubled its activity against Poland” compared to last year. But he also assured the public that “Poland knows how to defend itself” and is doing so.

The minister's remarks came while opening the Defense24 Days security conference in Warsaw on Tuesday. “During the current presidential elections in Poland, we are facing an unprecedented attempt by Russia to interfere in the Polish elections,” said Gawkowski, quoted by broadcaster RMF.

He said that Russian attacks have been aimed at “all election committees” taking part in the presidential election. But they have also involved “spreading disinformation combined with attacks on Polish critical infrastructure in order to paralyze the normal functioning of the state”.

Last month, Prime Minister Donald Tusk blamed an attack on his Civic Platform (PO) party's IT system on “foreign election interference”. Poland has also faced a series of sabotage and disinformation attacks that it has blamed on Russia, which often recruits civilians to carry out such actions.

Speaking on Tuesday, Gawkowski repeated previous claims that Poland faces the most cyberattacks of any country in the EU, with over 600,000 incidents reported last year, around 100,000 of which required action by the security services. That was a 60% increase compared to a year earlier.

“There is no other country in the structures of the European Union that faces similar threats,” declared the minister. However, he added that “Poland knows how to defend itself. It has the equipment, people and resources, and will not spare money.”

However, speaking to Notes from Poland, NASK, a Polish state research institute tasked with monitoring cyberthreats before the elections, said that “Russian disinformation campaigns are not as intense as expected.”

“The dissemination of disinformation is increasing with the end of the [presidential] campaign, but it is not a sharp spike,” said Agnieszka Lipińska, head of NASK's Disinformation Analysis Center.

In January, the Polish government issued the Election Protection Plan, a strategy aimed at protecting the integrity of the election from potential attempts at interference, in particular from Russia.

The plan encompasses monitoring social media for disinformation, organizing training for NGOs, journalists and electoral committees, and bolstering cybersecurity.

Last year, the results of Romania's presidential election were annulled due to evidence of Russian interference on behalf of Călin Georgescu, the far-right candidate who unexpectedly won the first round.

In March, Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland's main conservative opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), expressed concern that the European Union is “preparing to repeat what happened in Romania” if a right-wing candidate wins the Polish presidential election.

Main image credit: Ministry of Digital Affairs (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)