The goal was clear: to discredit democracy in the eyes of Lebanese readers and to plant the idea that freedom is an illusion—that pro-democracy movements are merely a façade for Western imperialism.
For the past three weeks, I’ve been in the Middle East—first in Beirut, then in Baghdad, and now in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.
The purpose of my trip is to counter Russian disinformation in this part of the world. And there’s plenty of it.
The Kremlin’s propaganda targets not only the war in Ukraine but also the Palestinian issue, migration, and so-called Western “imperialism.”
Its aim is to mock democracy and present Russia—much like the Soviet Union once did—as an anti-imperialist, anti-colonial force. In reality, Russia has always been, and remains, a colonial empire.
In the Middle East, “imperialism” and “colonialism” are often associated with the West—mainly Britain, France and the United States.
But in recent years, Russia has popularized the term “collective West” to spread the blame for real or imagined Western wrongs across all democratic nations.
This way, countries like Poland are suddenly portrayed as complicit in colonialism—or even the situation in Gaza—despite having nothing to do with either.
Some may shrug this off, asking why it matters what others think of us. That’s a mistake.
The modern world is increasingly interconnected, and as the world’s 20th-largest economy, Poland is not immune to global narratives.
If these perceptions truly didn’t matter, Russia wouldn’t spend time and money distorting Poland’s image in countries such as Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq.
Poland’s foreign ministry, along with the Info Ops Polska Foundation and the Casimir Pulaski Foundation, is working to counter these efforts.
Russia’s “anti-imperialist” rhetoric is a classic case of projection—turning reality upside down.
The partitions of Poland—which kept the country under foreign rule for 123 years until 1918—were acts of colonial aggression. Poland therefore speaks from experience: as a victim of imperialism, not as a participant in it.
The key lesson is that nations can overcome their past if they genuinely want to build a better future.
Poland did so with Germany—but that reconciliation was possible only because Germany became a democratic state and renounced its imperial ambitions.
Despite the suffering of the past, Poland and Germany are now partners and allies.
If Russia were to do the same, Poles might also be ready to put the difficult past behind them.
But instead, Moscow is waging a colonial war against Ukraine. The problem, therefore, is not Polish “Russophobia,” as the Kremlin claims—it’s Russia’s refusal to abandon imperialism.
When I shared these ideas with Lebanese students, they responded with genuine understanding—and asked for more lectures like this.
Poland’s own history gives it credibility in exposing Russia’s manipulative narratives about the West.
The Kremlin seeks to discredit democracy in the eyes of Middle Eastern societies because democracy, to Moscow, is like a contagious disease—one it fears will spread.
That’s why it tries to link democracy to colonialism and imperialism—a dark irony at a time when Russia is waging a brutal colonial war of its own.
We cannot allow that narrative to prevail.
Witold Repetowicz from Erbil
Witold Repetowicz. Photo: PR24/AK
The author is an assistant professor at the War Studies University in Warsaw.