Disinformation targeting wind power in Poland is not a spontaneous wave of public scepticism but a long-term, well-funded foreign operation, officials and analysts said at a Warsaw press conference on disinformation in the energy sector.
Citing documents leaked in May from the Social Design Agency, a body that works for the Kremlin, organisers said Russia’s propaganda budget for 2026 is a record figure of more than USD 2bn — around PLN 8bn, or roughly PLN 22m a day spent on disinformation across the European Union. Climate and Environment Secretary of State Urszula Zielińska put the cost of Russia’s wider cognitive warfare against Poland at between USD 2bn and 4bn a year.
According to the leaked material, the campaign aims to preserve Russia’s image as a superpower and to deepen internal divisions in NATO and EU states by stimulating and escalating anti-government protests. One passage indicates the activity is intended to move beyond the internet, including the organisation of mass protests with the possible involvement of a contingent based outside Russia.
Speakers said the findings are corroborated by Polish counter-intelligence. A report by the disinformation team within the commission led by the head of military counter-intelligence, General Jaroslaw Strozyk, identifies energy as a deliberate target, and the parliamentary commission examining Russian and Belarusian influence reached similar conclusions. In the first quarter of 2024 alone, accounts linked to Russia generated some 34m posts on energy and climate, the conference heard.
The stated objective, Zielinska said, is a Europe that abandons its own energy transition and remains dependent on imported fossil fuels. For the Baltic Sea region — where Poland, Germany and the Nordic and Baltic states are building out offshore and onshore wind to reduce that dependence — speakers framed the campaign as a direct attempt to slow the build-out of domestic, independent generation.
