Pro-Russian organizations promoting pseudo-peacemaking initiatives in Europe to undermine EU unity
Russia is on a spree of promoting pseudo-peacekeeping initiatives across the European Union through its agents of influence, calling for a halt to Ukraine aid and the need to negotiate settlement.
The Polish Anti-War Movement was especially active in this regard, according to Obozrevatel, Ukrinform reports.
"Russia is intensively involving fringe, including nationalist, movements in the pseudo-peacekeeping discourse, and also creating its own projects to promote their pseudo-peacekeeping plans, needed only for the sake of one thing – a tactical pause aimed to accumulate military resources to re-activate hostilities," the report says.
According to Czech journalists with Aktualni Zpravy, activists from the Polish Anti-War Movement recently announced an anti-war action "Together for Peace" to be held in Porajów on the border of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany on May 1-2.
“By promoting its own pseudo-peacekeeping initiatives through such events, Moscow is trying to increase the influence of pro-Russian movements that weaken the unity of the EU. This is a Russian hybrid threat that makes Europe extremely vulnerable to the full range of challenges and threats that Putin creates,” journalists write.
According to the report, if such an event does take place, it will contribute to further strengthening of radical nationalist groups that openly sympathize with Russia despite the latter’s aggression. This will be a huge step back in the Eurocentric achievements on the part of Poland and the Czech Republic, the publication notes.
“This will give Putin the green light to further destabilize Europe,” reads the report.
According to the Czech outlet, the Polish Anti-War Movement is an organization established on February 3 of this year in the city of Częstochowa by political scholar Leszek Sykulski. The movement opposes military assistance to Ukraine in the context of repelling Russian armed aggression.
The authors note that the organization was never officially registered in Poland, while being actively promoted online by the Belarusian Military-Political Inspection NGO, which supports the war of conquest unleashed by Putin against Ukraine.
“Representatives of this organization were seen at a Prague rally held on March 11 under the slogan “Czech Republic against Poverty,” where participants tried to remove the Ukrainian flag from the building of the National Museum in Prague," the newspaper writes.
Journalists also drew attention to the fact that the Polish Anti-War Movement consistently promotes anti-Ukrainian and anti-American initiatives, and that its founder Sykulski repeatedly circulates pro-Russian propaganda narratives.
“So, even before the Anti-War Movement was created, in November last year, Sykulski said that the United States could force Poland to deploy its troops in Ukraine in the event of a critical weakening of Ukraine’s Armed Forces,” the report says.
Other organizers of the event scheduled for May include United for Freedom and Rodacy Kamracy. The previous organization positions itself as "the Polish unit of a rights organization headquartered in the UK." And the latter is a "nationalist pro-Russian organization that unites all Poles."
“At the same time, the symbolism they use is very reminiscent of the one that is popular in the circles of Russian radical nationalists. In particular, it is the ‘Kolovrat,’ a logo also popular among Russian nationalists who directly declare Russia’s rights to Ukraine and support Putin’s aggression,” the authors summed up.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, an anti-government demonstration organized by a low-profile pro-Russian non-parliamentary political party Right Respect Professionalism (PRO) took place in the Czech capital Prague on April 16.
During the previous anti-government protest in the Czech Republic in March of this year, also organized by PRO, the police detained a man sporting a Wagner badge and the Russian “Z” swastika. After the demonstration ended, a group of protesters proceeded to try to break into the National Museum. At the same time, several radicals tried to remove the flag of Ukraine from the Museum building.