by AFP | 05.Sep 2023 | Fact check
A photomontage claiming to be a recruitment poster for the Polish army has been circulating on social media in several languages, including in Polish. It says that “Poland is the shield of Europe” and uses an image of Yevgeny Prigozhin — the late leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner — to invite Poles to “protect Europe from Russia’s folly”. But AFP was able to locate the original photo, which in fact shows a bank advertisement on a tram stop in the southern Polish city of Krakow. Poland’s defence ministry, the city’s public transportation authority and the advertising company involved all denied the existence of a Prigozhin recruitment poster.
by AFP | 08.Aug 2023 | Fact check
Social media users shared videos in June 2023 claiming that a convoy of thousands of migrants were on their way to Italy from Libya. Some of the posts, shared hundreds of times in Polish, claimed the Libyan armed forces assisted their crossing in an organised operation to “invade Europe”. But an AFP investigation found the footage was filmed during an expulsion of migrants from Libya into neighbouring Egypt.
by AFP, Belga, dpa | 02.Jun 2023 | Digest
A new Polish law that establishes a special committee to investigate Russian influence on the internal security of Poland between 2007 and 2022 is raising eyebrows within the European Commission. French President Emmanuel Macron urges the EU to develop new ways of handling its enlargement. The European Central Bank presents its semi-annual Financial Stability Report.
by AFP, BTA, dpa | 17.Feb 2023 | Digest
The European Commission sues Poland over EU primacy challenge. Bulgaria stops sending weapons to Ukraine until the formation of a new government in April. MEPs demand the EU to ratify the Istanbul Convention to mitigate violence against women.
by AFP | 12.Jul 2022 | Fact check
Two videos have been viewed over a million times in social media posts that claim they show an Indonesian flag flown during a concert by German rock band Scorpions after Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Ukraine and Russia to urge peace talks in late June 2022. The claim is false; the videos were taken during a Scorpions concert in Poland on May 28, 2022. News reports say the Polish and Ukrainian flags had been flown at the concert, not the Indonesian flag.
