The Influence of Russian Propaganda on the EU’s Interstate Relations With the Eastern European Countries (Case of Poland-Ukraine)1

The issue of Russian propaganda and its impact on interstate relations is a problem for Ukraine, Poland, and the majority of European countries. Established interstate political and economic relations between Europe and Asia, formed over decades, are changing in the light of the violation of international agreements by the Russian Federation concerning Ukraine – a strategic partner of the European Union. The pressure of Russian propaganda is realized through the media, forums, international meetings, diplomatic meetings, as well as through the meeting of the Tripartite Contact Group on a peaceful settlement of the conflict in the Donbas, because representatives of the Russian Federation often do not acknowledge and deny the presence of own military personnel on the Ukrainian territory even at these meetings, projecting an image of their so-called innocence, and therefore disseminating a kind of propaganda. To analyze the impact of Russian propaganda on the EU’s relations with its eastern neighbors, on the example of Ukraine and Poland, the author applied the following research methods: systematic, structural-functional, institutional, content analysis, and descriptive.


Introduction
The issue of Russian propaganda and its impact on interstate relations is a problem for Ukraine, Poland, and the majority of European countries. Established interstate political and economic relations between Europe and Asia, formed over decades, are changing in the light of the violation of international agreements by the Russian Federation concerning Ukraine -a strategic partner of the European Union.
The pressure of Russian propaganda is realized through the media, forums, international meetings, diplomatic meetings, as well as through the meeting of the Tripartite Contact Group on a peaceful settlement of the conflict in the Donbas, because representatives of the Russian Federation often do not acknowledge and deny the presence of own military personnel on the Ukrainian territory even at these meetings, projecting an image of their so-called innocence, and therefore disseminating a kind of propaganda.
To analyze the impact of Russian propaganda on the EU's relations with its eastern neighbors, on the example of Ukraine and Poland, the author applied the following research methods: systematic, structural-functional, institutional, content analysis, and descriptive.

Presentation of the main material
The issue of studying the European Union's relations with its eastern neighbors under the pressure of Russian propaganda, namely in Poland and Ukraine, is extremely important not only in terms of the nature and features of specific interstate relations, but also in terms of the failure to resolve the ongoing interstate conflict not only between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, but as well as between the Russian Federation and the majority of the European Union`s countries. 1 The article was written as part of a project co-founded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union "Jean Monnet Center of Excellence EU EX/ACT-EU External Actions in the contested global order -(in)coherence, (dis)continuity, resilience." DISCLAIMER: The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
stating that propaganda represents the activities of particular large organizations or groups with the aim of inclination of social group or publicity as a whole in a particular sphere by using a large-scale combination of favorable conclusions, which hide both the purpose of the above-mentioned inclination and lack of sufficient reasons for public support.
However, it should be emphasized that propaganda is not only an information weapon, but also a psychological one, as psychological technologies are also of a significant influence within the implementation of propaganda, involving pressure on consciousness, allegations, manipulation, and etc.
Therefore, considering psychological pressure as a kind of propaganda, propaganda should be interpreted as a mass "allegation," as well as a manipulation of symbols and psychology of an individual.
That is propaganda consisting of such elements as the skillful use of images, certain slogans, as well as special symbols, playing on the traditions, superstitions, and emotions of people, and accordingly provides for dissemination of insignificant information in a way and a manner that publicity perceives it as a voluntary perception of the position, as if the presented position was the personal position of the receiver (Aronson, 2003).
In the opinion of Ukrainian political scientist and professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Head of the Democratic Initiatives Foundation Haran O., Russia uses democracy to undermine democracy, arguing that Russian officials use European and American democratic rules of the game to destabilize democracy. Haran O. states: The Kremlin's information war has three main goals, the first and the main one is domestic politics, as Russian officials need to justify their actions and raise their ratings among the Russian population. 2 The expert believes that propaganda is effective since the Kremlin dominates Russian television. Russia is trying to form a vision of the situation with the help of pro-Russian puppets on television and social networks in Ukraine. They choose some marginal news or come up with fake ones and then try to spread them so that they get in the media. Also, the current goal is the West, where Russia wants to undermine and cause the split of transatlantic relations. They continue to implement the old Soviet strategy using digital tools (Informatsionnaya, 2017).
To begin with, it should be noted that the information array of central public authorities plays an important role in shaping public opinion on the current situation in Donbas. It can be argued that both in Russia and Ukraine authorities often use several informational and manipulation methods to form consolidated public opinion and unified vision of the processes taking place in eastern Ukraine to overcome the relevant antagonistic sentiments.
It can be argued that the conduct of hostilities on the territory of Ukraine conditions an urgent need for Ukraine to form a clear and strong-willed, unified, and fairly unambiguous position on the events in eastern Ukraine. Today Ukraine is presenting clear RIE 14 '20 evidence of direct and indirect involvement of the Russian military in the conflict in eastern Ukraine -and this is undoubtedly a violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Thus, Russia is treated as an aggressor country, which has become a stable form of the political analysis of events in eastern Ukraine.
The numerous comments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine exemplify that: "illegal actions of the Russian Federation, a gross violation of Ukrainian state border, interference in internal affairs of our state by supporting terrorist groups operating in Donbas." 3 In the context of propaganda study, it should be noted that the anti-Western position, and especially the anti-American position, resonates with the Kremlin's official position. Thus, representatives of the state bodies of the Russian Federation in their official speeches repeatedly emphasized the direct participation of the U.S. in modern political processes in Ukraine. According to official Moscow, the purpose of this influence is to strengthen the U. S. political importance in the world and finally to oust Russia from the circle of world-leading states. For instance, it is worth quoting S. Lavrov's statement "the Ukrainian crisis is a direct consequence of the Western attempts to maintain and extend dividing lines of the Euro-Atlantic region to the east". 4 In the situation of hostilities in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainians first encountered this type of war, when technologies are used to destroy the social order, which are not traditional methods of resolving interstate conflicts.
The main source of use and application of technology is information that massively affects the collective consciousness, and in the set of components forms the propaganda. After all, the fighting in the east of the country is considered by many Ukrainian and foreign experts to be a clear planned technological aspect, which, accordingly, the Russian Federation has been working on for many years. According to scientist Rushchenko I. P., the main social material for the implementation of the above-mentioned technology is unstable "social segments," respectively, groups of people who in such situations can be easily manipulated, and become the object to Russian pressure and propaganda policy (Rushchenko, 2015, p. 150).
Analyzing articles on propaganda in the eastern region of Ukraine, it should be noted that in fact for 20 years, to stay in power and dominate the region, Eastern political leaders have conducted propaganda among the local population, presenting the following: Donbas feeds everyone, he is the only one creating material goods in the country, and Kyiv does not want to hear about the urgent problems of miners and Donetsk residents (although total subsidies from the central budget to support the two regions reached about 35 billion UAH annually); Donbas is a stronghold for the best Soviet traditions, and the rest of Ukraine was sold to the United States and Europe; Western Ukraine, apart from producing nothing, and lives at the expense of Donbas; all the positive is embodied in Russia, its president, people, there is wealth, greatness, traditions, true pride and contempt for the Americans. Thus, even before the start of hostilities, the population of eastern Ukraine was negative about the western one, and positive about the eastern neighbor, which was the result of Russian pressure and propaganda.
It is also worth noting that now Russia is effectively using internal destabilizing processes in Ukraine, based on articles in media operating in eastern Ukraine. For example, the Donetsk newspapers "Donbas," "Zhyttia," and "Panorama" are quite popular in the region today, but the reader will not find a hint of condemnation of Russia's aggression on pages of this weekly. Also, in such media, there is no mourning for the lost Ukrainian soldiers, many of whom were natives of the eastern region. It is also worth noting that in early spring 2014, locals of the eastern region understood what was going on and who was to blame for the armed conflict, but over time and under the influence of Russian propaganda have changed their views on pro-Russian accusations of Ukrainian authorities and those who related to the Maidan (Eremenko, 2015, p. 18).
To increase the efficiency of Russia's information policy a new Information Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation was adopted at the end of 2016. Under the document, the main purpose of Russia's actions in the information sphere is 'break of information blockade by the United States and the EU' within the building of 'equal interstate relations in the field of information' and 'development of a free environment for information'. 5 As part of the implementation of the document`s provisions, measures have been intensified to create a wide network of media (including TV and radio channels and Internet publications) aimed at American and European audiences.
In particular, Russian propaganda is not realized without quoting the United States and the Americans, which is one of the ways of Russian pressure and Russian propaganda, namely, the Russian media increasingly mention the U.S. desire to consolidate its leadership in the world, change and adapt the European and Asian space to its economic regime, as well as economically weaken the Russian Federation (Ozerov, 2015).
The leadership of the Russian Federation is intensifying its efforts to influence Western countries by weakening the United States and its position in the world, as well as undermining the unity of NATO and the EU. A set of tools and methods is used for that, including: -interference in presidential and parliamentary elections in Western countries; -deterioration of the political situation in the EU countries, as well as pressure on their governments utilizing various Eurosceptic, left, nationalist, pro-Russian and radical political forces; -bringing tension to the EU by provoking a "migration" crisis; -increasing Russia's presence in the field of information of Western countries; -strengthening Russia's influence in Europe through the Russian diaspora.
The importance of creating the Eastern Partnership initiative as a driving force for the social, economic, and institutional development of the EU's eastern neighbors cannot be overlooked in this paper. The Eastern Partnership celebrated its 10th anniversa-RIE 14 '20 ry in 2019. This initiative was created within the framework of the EU's neighborhood policy, it united Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. From the very beginning, the project was seen as an opportunity for political rapprochement and economic integration with the European Union of neighboring countries, which Brussels can not give the prospect of membership in the upcoming years. The reason is that neither the EU nor any of its eastern neighbors are ready for this. Other goals of the initiative are to promote reforms in the region and resolve conflicts there. It is worth noting that Russia is not a member of either the Eastern Partnership or the Neighborhood Policy, although it was invited to join, but it considered itself a higherlevel partner of the EU.
Considering the Eastern Partnership, it should be noted that the greatest achievements in 10 years are the three association agreements providing for a Free Trade Area (FTA). These countries' trade with the EU has grown significantly in recent years. For example, the EU has firmly taken the place of Ukraine's main economic partner, last year it accounted for more than 41% of the country's foreign trade. Earlier, the place of the champion belonged to Russia. Importantly, companies from the Eastern Partnership states have to implement European standards for exports to the EU, which makes them more globally competitive. 6 To reduce sympathy of the West for Ukraine, Russia has used many information measures to achieve the goal, namely: repeating existing and spreading new narratives of the illegality of the Maidan government and defining it as fascist; regular updating of information on illegal, horrible, full of violence and aggression activities of the Armed Forces in Donbas; dissemination of information about Ukraine's involvement in the Syrian war, and its ties with DAES (Pacek, 2019).
Regarding Russia's relations with its eastern neighbors, it should be noted that nowadays relations between Russia and Poland are destabilized, but that is not good for Russia, and to establish relations Russia uses the same methods of propaganda, trying to make Ukraine look like a traitor in the eyes of Poland through information propaganda to implement the scenario of so-called "historical justice," accusing Ukraine in the face of Polish representatives. 7 A report prepared by the Czech NGO with the support of the European People's Party and presented in Brussels to the European Parliament on April 24, 2017 determines how seriously the Kremlin's aggressive actions and threat from Russia to the EU member states are perceived. As a result, only 14 of the 28 member states are genuinely concerned about Russia's foreign policy and the Kremlin's aggression, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Denmark. 8 Based on these data, we see that Poland is among the countries that are concerned about the aggressiveness of Russia's foreign policy, which probably has attracted the attention of the Kremlin itself. So, it becomes clear why the Kremlin is using propaganda as one of the means to worsen relations between Poland and Ukraine at all levels.
In Poland pro-Kremlin propaganda is extensive and multi-channel. News portals (Sputnik, Russia Today), websites (zmianynaziemi.pl, wolna-polska.pl), and political blogs (dziennik-polityczny.com), which are most likely run by the intelligence agencies of the Russian Federation, are used to disseminate it.
The main goal of the key narratives used in Poland by pro-Kremlin propaganda is to undermine friendly relations between the societies and governments of Poland and Ukraine. The Kremlin's websites in Poland publish many emotionally charged articles based on fears and historical outrage. They are mainly devoted (but not only) to the difficult past between Poland and Ukraine (recalling the history of the Volyn massacre, where Ukrainians are portrayed as wild and cruel beasts). This typically Polish narrative is aimed at the emotional arousal of the reader. Stepan Bandera, on the one hand is a creation of Soviet propaganda and on the other as a symbol of the Ukrainian community in the struggle for independence, plays a major role in the narrative of the Volyn massacre.
Another key narrative used in Poland is to spread misinformation and manipulate public opinion about NATO. The peculiarity of this misinformation was the use of false interviews with the best Polish generals, who expressed unfavorable opinions on the American allies, as well as on the 2016 Warsaw Summit. The fake articles aimed at undermining Poles' confidence in NATO and the anti-NATO views imposed on the Polish public by Russia.
You can still often find the use of another narrative -accusing the Polish authorities of Russophobia. 9 This narrative can be very useful from the Kremlin's point of view, as it can be used by pro-Kremlin propaganda in almost all cases of discrediting the Polish government or political elite. It also serves a specific purpose: to isolate Poland from Russia and its Western allies, and to portray its political leaders as irresponsible and Russophobic.
One of the "favourite" pressure points of Russian propaganda on the minds of both Ukrainian and Polish citizens is Warsaw's "territorial claims." The essence of this statement is that Poland, despite supporting European aspirations of Ukraine, wants to return Lviv. Similarly, Russians have underlined that Ukraine is interested in returning some Polish cities, such as Chelm or Przemyśl. 10 The following statements about reasons for Poland's friendly attitude to Ukraine can be found in the works of Russian scholars. The close ties between these countries are explained by Warsaw's desire to dominate Kyiv economically and politically, which is necessary for Poland to strengthen its position in Europe. Poland can become one of the big European players that will be considered as an equal, the countries of the "big five," but this will be possible only with Ukraine`s dependence on it. According to Nemenskiy (2014, p. 68), Poland without Ukraine has no chance to become a leader even among its neighbors in the region. Ukraine is defined by the author as a large market for Polish goods, and Ukrainians are seen as a labor source for the well-developing Polish economy. Also, Ukraine is RIE 14 '20 interesting to Poland due to its access to the Black Sea basin. But one of the most important reasons why Poland needs Ukraine, as Russian author defines, is the influence on it, which is psychologically very important for Poles in terms of Polish national identity and historical memory. The struggle for influence in Ukraine used to have more ideological than political grounds, because Ukraine was much larger than Poland in terms of territory, population, and economic potential. The last quarter of the century has dramatically changed this situation. The failure of post-Soviet Ukraine has led to the current perception of the country as a weak and seeking protection.
In order to ensure its security, Poland seeks to draw attention to events in Ukraine as an example of the Kremlin's propaganda power, which has been used to destabilize the country through the so-called "aggression level below the threshold of war." There is a need for Poland to develop a doctrine of information security, which would consider the specifics of Russia's activities, and would form the basis for legislative activity, identifying new threats to military operations and their consequences (Rogozińska, 2019, pp. 190-191).
In our opinion, both Ukrainian and Polish citizens, governments, and politicians should not react emotionally to Russian propaganda, and not succumb to Russian information pressure, which is aimed at severing interstate relations. Nowadays, Poland is not only Ukraine`s neighbor, but also a strategic European partner.

Conclusions
The Russian Federation's violation of international agreements, namely with Ukraine -a strategic partner of the European Union, has been the result of today's interstate political and economic relations between Europe and Asia.
Russia is trying to create a negative image of Ukrainians and Ukraine in Poland. They present the opinion that an unstable Ukraine may threaten Poland. This content was disseminated to divert Poland from Ukraine and cut off its support, the Kremlin`s propaganda actively speculates on conflict and pressing issues.
Today the Russian Federation`s evident information pressure, as well as Russian propaganda through the media, forums, international meetings, and diplomatic meetings is to face strong international resistance. Undoubtedly, in recent years the EU leadership has adopted several conceptual documents in which Moscow recognizes the conduct of aggressive "hybrid" wars against Europe; and a set of measures to counter them (EU Global Strategy 2016, EU Cyber Security Strategy 2017, Joint report to the European Parliament and the European Council on the implementation of the Joint Framework Document on Countering Hybrid Threats 2017 and others). Also, the necessary infrastructure has been created to block the aggressive information policy of the Kremlin (ENISA, CSIRT, CERT-EU, etc).
The work of these bodies and systems has already yielded tangible positive results, but neither the United States, Europe, nor Ukraine can still completely block the spread of Moscow`s negative influence. This is largely due to the imperfection of Russia's information pressure response systems, which has many reasons: -lack of a comprehensive, coordinated strategy for Europe and Ukraine to block Russia's actions in the "hybrid" sphere; -continued engagement of Russian lobby in political and economic circles of the EU, the United States, and Ukraine, which creates obstacles to an efficient deterrence policy of the Russian Federation. That is manifested in calls of individual politicians and businessmen both in the West and in Ukraine to stop pressure Russia and resume cooperation with it; -insufficient determination of the EU leadership and, unfortunately, Ukrainian one as the main object of Moscow`s aggression, to take critical steps for Russia to counter its influence. In particular, both in the EU and Ukraine, the Russian media and civil society organizations continue to operate, which are the main tools of Russian information warfare; -problems in relations between Ukraine and the EU countries, including economic and historical ones. The unresolved issues, which are becoming more frequent as a result of Russian provocations and irresponsible actions of local political forces, create additional obstacles to deepening cooperation between Ukraine and its European partners in countering Moscow's policy; -lack or inefficiency of funds` use allocated by the governments of the EU and Ukraine for measures to deter the Russian Federation. In addition, a specific problem is the lack of professionals who can work effectively in combating Russian information aggression. Such problems require further joint work of the European Union and Ukraine to develop and increase the efficiency of Moscow's information influence deterrence system and require necessary steps from the governments of all parties to achieve a common goal.

Summary
The article is devoted to the analysis of the influence of Russian propaganda on relations between the European Union member states and its eastern neighbors in the case of Poland and Ukraine. The analysis is related to an issue that can be formulated as the following research question: how exactly does propaganda affect domestic and foreign policy processes in countries? A multidisciplinary approach to the study of the impact of political propaganda enabled the use of such methods as: systemic, institutional, structural-functional, content analysis, and descriptive. The article gives definition and main characteristics of the concept of propaganda in political context. Special attention is paid to reasons for the successful use of propaganda by Russia in fanning the conflict in Ukraine, which is presented in the article. The complex of means and methods used in Russia's information policy to influence Western countries is denoted. The author presents the main narratives of Russian propaganda, and identifies the features of its pressure on interstate relations between Ukraine and Poland by analysing articles in pro-Russian periodicals of Poland and Ukraine. Conclusions are drawn on the need for strong international resistance to Russian propaganda, and to define the shortcomings of the system for countering Russian information aggression in general and propaganda in particular.