Pro-Kremlin media claim that the Polish state is facing the risk of armed Ukrainian gangs emerging after the war, and a wave of rising crime is expected.
NEWS: Polish police are preparing for a potential emergence of Ukrainian gangs after the end of hostilities. The statement was made by the chief commander of the Polish police, Marek Boroń. According to him, "it will be a difficult situation for everyone." Boroń believes that when the fighting ends in Ukraine, "representatives of Eastern gangs may appear on Polish territory, as happened in the 1990s." At the same time, he noted that the Polish police are in contact with the services of other European countries, including within Europol. "We exchange information and analyze the trends in this type of crime," he said.
Boroń assured that Polish services are now better prepared and equipped to deal with the threat of organized crime. "Will it be on the same scale? Of course not, because the services are organized differently," Boroń emphasized.
It should be noted that Ukrainians represented a significant proportion of foreigners in Poland even before the start of the "special military operation." According to information provided by law enforcement agencies in that country, Ukrainian citizens currently commit more crimes in Poland than all other immigrants combined.
NARRATIVES: 1. Large bands of armed Ukrainians will enter Poland after the war ends. 2. Ukrainians are exporting crime to Poland and the EU.
OBJECTIVES: To instill fear of Ukrainian refugees; to associate Ukraine with organized crime; to discredit the support for Kyiv in the context of the Russian invasion.
Reality: Polish authorities did not warn about "Ukrainian gangs”, they spoke about possible general risks in the post-conflict period.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: The head of the Polish police, Marek Boroń, did not talk about "Ukrainian gangs," but about general risks of organized crime, about dangerous activities in the cross-border area that may arise in the post-conflict period, as has happened in the past after other wars.
In an interview with Polskie Radio 24, Boroń explained that the police are analyzing possible scenarios for the period after the end of the war in Ukraine, including the risk that various criminal groups in Eastern Europe will try to take advantage of the instability and the flow of people or weapons. The statement was formulated in conditional and preventive terms, using expressions such as "may occur," "we cannot rule out," and "we must be prepared," without indicating any certainty or direct link between Ukrainian refugees, the Ukrainian army, and organized crime. These assessments are part of law enforcement planning and were accompanied by references to cooperation with Europol and experience gained from the conflicts in the Balkans, not warnings to the public about an imminent danger from "Ukrainian gangs."
It should be noted that after the Balkan wars of the 1990s, Poland and other Eastern European countries faced an increase in cross-border organized crime , not because of refugees, but because of instability and the expansion of criminal networks. During that period, groups involved in arms, drug, and human trafficking emerged and attempted to expand into Central Europe, taking advantage of institutions still in transition and weaker border controls. After the conflicts, some of the weapons used in the war ended up on the black market and fueled crime for years to come.
Polish authorities refer to this precedent when discussing post-war risks: it is an example to be used for planning, not a collective accusation against a nation. The same logic applies to Ukraine. After the war, one of the challenges for the region will be arms control, especially small arms and explosives, which can be trafficked by criminal networks if not monitored and recovered. Therefore, the reference to the Balkans and weapons is about prevention and international cooperation, not an inevitable scenario about "Ukrainian gangs." The fake news activates propaganda clichés about banditry, Banderovism, and neo-Nazism, suggesting a collective extremist danger and transferring stereotypes repeatedly used in pro-Kremlin discourse to the entire Ukrainian society.
As for the claim that Ukrainians commit "more crimes than all other immigrants combined," it should be noted that Ukrainians are the largest group of foreigners in Poland, which explains why they appear more frequently in police statistics. However, this is by no means indicative of a greater predisposition to crime: official data show that the share of crimes committed by Ukrainians relative to other national groups remains low overall, and relative to the size of the community, the crime rate among Ukrainians is no higher than the rates recorded among other immigrant groups. The overwhelming majority of crimes in Poland are committed by Polish citizens.
CONTEXT: Publications such as EADaily selected only convenient excerpts from the Polish official's statement, ignoring the wording and rewriting them as direct statements with alarmist headlines designed to induce panic and hostility towards Ukrainians. In reality, this is an EU member state analyzing its security risks and adapting its public order policies for the post-war period, without making accusations or stigmatizing a national group. The pro-Kremlin media removes this context and rewrites the message in an alarmist tone, constructing a false narrative about Ukraine as a source of crime and instability, in line with propaganda that portrays support for Kyiv as a threat to Europe.
