The US and Poland have launched a Warsaw-based multinational initiative to combat Russia’s misinformation about the war in Ukraine, says the US State Department.
James Rubin, special envoy and coordinator of misinformation monitoring at the US State Department initiated the programme. He was in Warsaw for the announcement.
The group will unite like-minded governments to coordinate messaging. It aims to promote accurate reporting of Russia’s large-scale invasion, amplify Ukrainian voices and expose Kremlin’s misinformation manipulation.
Countries that have agreed to participate include Ukraine, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovenia, Rubin told the press.
NATO and the European Union’s European External Action Service will also take part.
Rubin pointed out that the West was "late to the game," unlike Russia, which has viewed information and misinformation as a crucial part of its foreign policy for decades.
He emphasised that Poland was an ideal partner for this initiative. Poland and the US take the misinformation threat seriously, he said.
Poland has also been a steadfast supporter of Ukraine since the outbreak of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Last month, the Polish official news agency, PAP, was the target of what the government labelled as a ‘Russian cyberattack,’ with speculative reports appearing on the agency's wires, alleging that Poles were being mobilised to fight in Ukraine.
