Poland Accuses Russia of Interfering in Presidential Election

Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitalisation Krzysztof Gawkowski said that the country is facing an unprecedented attempt by Russia to interfere in the presidential election.

The Gaze reports on this with reference to Reuters.

Polish authorities claim that the country's role as a logistical hub for aid to Ukraine has made it a key target for Russian cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns. 

‘During the current presidential elections in Poland, we are dealing with an unprecedented attempt to interfere in the electoral process by Russia,’ Gawkowski said at a defence conference.

According to him, this is happening ‘through the spread of disinformation combined with hybrid attacks on Poland's critical infrastructure in order to paralyse the normal functioning of the state’.

He noted that the attacks were aimed at water utilities, thermal power plants, energy supply facilities and public administration bodies. The level of the Russian cyber threat in Poland has more than doubled compared to last year.

‘Today, more than a dozen incidents against critical infrastructure are registered in Poland every minute I speak,’ the minister added.

The Polish government has previously said that it is working to strengthen internet security and is in talks with social media platforms, expecting cyberattacks to intensify ahead of the presidential election.

On 2 April, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that his Civic Platform party had suffered a cyberattack of foreign origin.

At the time, Gawkowski said that Tusk's party had been cyberattacked by groups from Russia and Belarus.

As The Gaze reported earlier, on April 22, Poland officially launched a €58 million concessional lending initiative aimed at supporting Polish companies investing in Ukraine.