The Kremlin may be tempted to interfere in the Polish election, which is due to be held in May, the Rzeczpospolita daily said on Wednesday, citing an article in an official publication of Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW).
The paper said the article, penned by Michał Wojnowski, a Polish historian and researcher, offered a range of recommendations on how his country could protect itself from Russian interference in its presidential election.
These include the organisation of training seminars for political parties, members of campaign staffs as well as electoral commissions and volunteers, Rzeczpospolita reported.
Key objective: ‘destabilization’
According to Wojnowski's article, “the opinions of Russian experts indicate explicitly that the aim of the Russian interference in the election process is not only the undermining of its integrity and discrediting democracy, but primarily the destabilization of the internal situation in given countries and the victory of parties favorable to Kremlin’s politics.
“This is the reason why political elections are perceived by Russian geo-politicians as a convenient target of information warfare and the tool to deprive countries of their sovereignty.”
Wojnowski argues in his article that "attempts to exert impact on the American election process by the services of the Eastern Bloc" took place during the Cold War.
He cites an operation that he says was conducted in 1964 to discredit “the idealistically anti-communist” US Republican Party candidate Barry Goldwater “through the distribution of several thousands of copies of a pamphlet containing information” on his alleged “racist views.”
According to Wojnowski, today the internet has become the most effective weapon in “information and psychological operations.”
Three types of 'info-psychological' operations
Citing "Russian analysts," the writer says that the Kremlin has been known to undertake three types of “info-psychological” operations: information explosion, information wave, and influence operations.
Wojnowski argues that “an excellent example of an information explosion” ahead of 2017 elections in France was a “leak of documents allegedly obtained from Russian hackers from the election staff of Emanuel Macron, comprising pornography and information about views which were discrediting his aides.”
Meanwhile, an example of using an “information wave against a target” was a campaign against Macron that Wojnowski says was carried out from January to May 2017.
At the time, “fake news was disseminated in the form of rumors, slander and conspiracy theories,” according to Wojnowski.
“For example, there was information on the alleged financing of Macron’s campaign by Saudi Arabia and about his homosexual inclinations,” Wojnowski writes.
Finally, a “model example” of a “destructive influence operation,” according to Wojnowski, was the exploitation of “racial, religious and economic conflicts” in American society “as well as separatist sentiments” in extreme rightist groups in the southern United States during that country’s 2016 presidential election, which was won by Donald Trump.
According to Wojnowski, Russia's goal at the time was “to start ethnically, religiously and politically-motivated conflicts” intended to result in “internal destabilization” in the United States.
In this context, he named the activities of “Russian experts from the Internet Research Agency,” which he said was a “Russian company based in St. Petersburg and dealing with influence operations” via the internet.
Cautionary tale for Poland
“Is there a risk that a similar scenario will play out in Poland as it approaches presidential elections?” Rzeczpospolita asks.
It says Wojnowski does not directly address this question, “but the implications are clear.”
The paper adds that the writer formulates a series of recommendations for Poland, including “developing cooperation between the government, the services and the media” and “initiating actions that should neutralize all unrest and provocation.”
Wojnowski’s article, entitled Presidential elections as a state destabilization tool in the theory and practice of the Russian info-psychological operations in the 20th and 21st century, was published in the latest issue of Przegląd Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego (Internal Security Review), an official publication of Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW), according to Rzeczpospolita.
The paper said Wojnowski is a historian who researches Russian geopolitical thought and the theory of information warfare.
(gs/pk)
Source: rp.pl, abw.gov.pl