Russia’s director of international espionage on Thursday accused the United States and Poland of conspiring to gain a sphere of influence in Ukraine, a claim Warsaw denied was disinformation aimed at sowing distrust among Russia’s supporters.
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Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR), cited unpublished information which he said showed that the United States and Poland, NATO allies, were planning to restore Polish control of the West from Ukraine.
“According to intelligence information obtained by Russian foreign intelligence, Washington and Warsaw are working on plans to establish Poland’s political and military control over its historical holdings in Ukraine,” Naryshkin said in a rare statement released by SVR.
Poland dismissed the claim, saying it was disinformation spread by Moscow.
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“Lies about Poland’s alleged plans to attack western Ukraine have been repeated for years,” said Stanislaw Zaryn, a spokesman for Poland’s Special Services Coordination Unit.
“The purpose of Russian propaganda is to fuel distrust between Ukraine and Poland and to undermine cooperation between the two countries.”
Poland once ruled some of what is now part of Ukraine at various times in the past, most recently between the two world wars. Western Ukraine, including the city of Lviv, was taken over by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.