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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.
A man who regularly posts anti-Ukrainian and anti-Israeli videos on social media has been detained by police in Poland. He has been charged with various crimes, including inciting hatred, making criminal threats, and using symbols that express support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Early on Monday, police in the city of Gdynia announced that they had on Friday evening detained a 44-year-old man suspected of committing crimes relating to “posting online materials containing threats, inciting hatred, promoting violence, and disclosing personal information”.
During the stop, which took place in the man’s car, it was also discovered that he was driving under the influence of drugs, with a blood test showing the presence of “several psychoactive substances”.
Various media outlets have named him as Piotr N., with his surname hidden under Polish privacy law. He published online under the nickname “Nazar”.
📢 Sześć zarzutów dla 44-latka- groźby, mowa nienawiści, propagowanie przemocy
🔹Policjanci z Komendy Miejskiej Policji w Gdyni zatrzymali 44-letniego mężczyznę podejrzanego o popełnienie szeregu przestępstw.
Mężczyzna publikował w sieci materiały zawierające groźby, treści… pic.twitter.com/Y8drKAlWQV— PomorskaPolicja (@PomorskaPolicja) November 3, 2025
The suspect has been charged with six offences, including disseminating content on social media inciting hatred based on nationality and religion, promoting symbols of support for Russian aggression against Ukraine, making criminal threats, and violating the data protection rules.
In 2022, Poland’s parliament almost unanimously approved a law making the display of symbols supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine illegal, punishable by up to two years in prison. Inciting national, religious, racial or ethnic hatred has long been a crime, carrying a prison sentence of up to three years.
Various Polish media outlets report that the charge of criminal threats relates to online material in which Piotr N. displays a bladed weapon. He may additionally be charged with driving under the influence of drugs once an expert report on his blood test results is completed.
The police have also filed a motion, supported by prosecutors, to place Piotr N. in pretrial detention. A court is due to hold a hearing on that today.
Under the name Nazar, Piotr N. runs a TikTok channel on which he regularly posts anti-Ukrainian and anti-Israeli material. He also makes clear his support for radical-right leader Grzegorz Braun, who finished fourth in this year’s presidential elections.
Prosecutors are also seeking to charge Braun for various alleged crimes relating to his anti-Ukrainian, anti-Jewish and anti-LGBT rhetoric and actions during the election campaign. But first they need the European Parliament, where he is an MEP, to strip his legal immunity.
Local media outlet Trojmiasto.pl reports that, in recent months, Piotr N. has been regularly tearing down Ukrainian flags in the Tricity area on Poland’s northern Baltic coast, which Gdynia is part of. Braun is also facing potential charges for ripping down a Ukrainian flag.
The Gazeta Wyborcza daily adds that Piotr N. also attacked a Ukrainian restaurant and kicked a woman for displaying a Ukrainian flag. His TikTok videos also show him putting up stickers of an Israeli flag with the words (in English) “Wipe shoes here” written on it.
Poland has asked the European Parliament to strip Polish far-right MEP Grzegorz Braun of legal immunity to face charges for alleged anti-Jewish, anti-LGBT+ and anti-Ukrainian crimes committed during and after his recent presidential election campaign https://t.co/MkHlC1nU40
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 18, 2025
In June this year, Piotr N. was also arrested in the city of Kraków in southern Poland after tearing down Ukrainian flags, including from the historic Słowacki Theatre. He was charged with damaging a historic building and threatening the director of the theatre, reported Gazeta Wyborcza.
The following month, he was also charged with nine other alleged crimes committed in the Tricity area, including threats and incitement to hatred, again in relation to Ukrainian flags being displayed in the area. In one case, he used pepper spray against another person while trying to access a private building.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many public and private buildings in Poland have displayed Ukrainian flags as a sign of support and solidarity. Poland also welcomed millions of Ukrainian immigrants and has provided extensive military, financial and diplomatic support to Kyiv.
However, this year has seen growing criticism of Ukrainians and Ukraine in Poland, stirred up in particular by Braun and the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) party that he was one of the leaders of until being expelled in January due to announcing an unsanctioned run for the presidency.
"We cannot allow Ukrainians" – Poland's largest immigrant group – "to have representation in parliament," warns far-right leader Sławomir Mentzen.
His remarks come amid discussion over toughening the criteria for foreigners to obtain Polish citizenship https://t.co/y86IbrfpcT
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 7, 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: Facebook/RMF
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
