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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland is facing an “unprecedented attempt by Russia” to interfere in its presidential election, the first round of which takes place next week, says the country’s digital affairs minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski.
Gawkowski, who also serves as deputy prime minister, claims that Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency, the GRU, has “doubled its activity against Poland” compared to last year. But he also assured the public that “Poland knows how to defend itself” and is doing so.
💬 Przyszła wojna zacznie się od ataku w sieci. Polska musi być gotowa – nie tylko do obrony, ale też do odpowiedzi. Dziś cyberprzestrzeń to realne pole walki. Jesteśmy najczęściej atakowanym krajem w UE. Tylko w 2024 roku zgłoszono ponad 600 tys. incydentów, z czego 100 tys.… pic.twitter.com/D5eRfHQbIB
— Ministerstwo Cyfryzacji (@CYFRA_GOV_PL) May 6, 2025
The minister’s remarks came while opening the Defence24 Days security conference in Warsaw on Tuesday. “During the current presidential elections in Poland, we are facing an unprecedented attempt by Russia to interfere in the Polish elections,” said Gawkowski, quoted by broadcaster RMF.
He said that Russian attacks have been aimed at “all election committees” taking part in the presidential election. But they have also involved “spreading disinformation combined with attacks on Polish critical infrastructure in order to paralyse the normal functioning of the state”.
Last month, Prime Minister Donald Tusk blamed an attack on his Civic Platform (PO) party’s IT system on “foreign election interference”. Poland has also faced a series of sabotage and disinformation attacks that it has blamed on Russia, which often recruits civilians to carry out such actions.
Speaking on Tuesday, Gawkowski repeated previous claims that Poland faces the most cyberattacks of any country in the EU, with over 600,000 incidents reported last year, around 100,000 of which required action by the security services. That was a 60% increase compared to a year earlier.
“There is no other country in the structures of the European Union that faces similar threats,” declared the minister. However, he added that “Poland knows how to defend itself. It has the equipment, people and resources, and will not spare money”.
However, speaking to Notes from Poland, NASK, a Polish state research institute tasked with, among other things, monitoring cyberthreats before the election, said that “Russian disinformation campaigns are not as intense as expected”.
“The dissemination of disinformation is increasing with the end of the [presidential] campaign, but it is not a sharp spike,” said Agnieszka Lipińska, head of NASK’s Disinformation Analysis Centre.
Poland is facing a new type of threat: Russia's recruitment of civilians – often migrants from Ukraine and Belarus – to carry out espionage and sabotage.@adam_lelonek explains why this trend has emerged and how the Polish authorities have responded to it https://t.co/GSeBMlbPuV
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 9, 2025
In January, the Polish government issued the Election Protection Plan, a strategy aimed at protecting the integrity of the election from potential attempts at interference, in particular from Russia.
The plan encompasses monitoring social media for disinformation, organising training for NGOs, journalists and electoral committees, and bolstering cybersecurity.
Last year, the results of Romania’s presidential election were annulled due to evidence of Russian interference on behalf of Călin Georgescu, the far-right candidate who unexpectedly won the first round.
In March, Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland’s main conservative opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), expressed concern that the European Union is “preparing to repeat what happened in Romania” if a right-wing candidate wins the Polish presidential election.
Poland's conservative opposition PiS party has accused the EU of plotting to interfere in Poland’s upcoming presidential elections after a European Commissioner announced plans to hold discussions on preventing "abuse and manipulation" of the results https://t.co/rbCxDyAemS
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 6, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Ministerstwo Cyfryzacji (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)

Agata Pyka is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a journalist and a political communication student at the University of Amsterdam. She specialises in Polish and European politics as well as investigative journalism and has previously written for Euractiv and The European Correspondent.