COVERAGE BY THE POLISH PRESS OF THE RUSSIAN INVASION IN UKRAINE (FEBRUARY – JULY 2014): HISTORICAL ASPECT

Abstract

The article is examined the process of the Russian invasion of Ukraine during February – July 2014 through the prism of the Polish press. Analyzing the source and historiographical base of the research, the author came to the conclusion that there isn’t comprehensive grant work on the specified problem. Therefore, the topic of the article is undeniably relevant. The intelligence showed that the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation in Crimea and in the east of Ukraine were objectively covered on the pages of the Polish mass media. Journalists from Poland did not give in to manifestations of Russian propaganda and analyzed the reasons for the quick capture of the peninsula, were critical of the activities of the new government in Kyiv, and objectively showed the events of the «Russian Spring» and the anti-terrorist operation in the east. During the short period of the capture of the Crimean parliament, the number of personnel and military forces transferred by Russia to Crimea is quite clearly indicated, a sufficiently critical analysis of the activities of the Russian Federation regarding the blocking of the Ukrainian army on the peninsula is presented, the socio-political positions of well-known represen- tatives of the Polish and Ukrainian intelligentsia and the governments of Ukraine and Poland are highlighted , of the European Union. Especially in the columns of Polish newspapers, the attitudes of the indigenous peoples of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea regarding the annexation of the territory of the peninsula to the Russian Federation are shown. Regarding the coverage of the anti-terrorist operation in the east of Ukraine, Polish journalists noted that the support of the separatists was supported by the money of V. Yanukovych’s family, as well as other well-known Ukrainian oligarchs. The authorities in Kyiv were afraid to call a spade a spade and declare war on the Russian Federation. In the publications, the journalists tried to objectively present not only the chronology of events on the battlefield, but also analyzed the economic and political motives for the aggression of the Putin regime. This provided significant assistance to the Ukrainian government in the fight against the «information war» on the part of Russia, and influenced the further rapprochement of Ukrainian and Polish politicians.