POLOGNE PERSPECTIVE

Poland covers Russian internet blackouts with characteristic Russophobic intensity, amplified by geographic proximity and historical traumas. Gazeta Wyborcza headlines: 'Putin builds a digital gulag,' using maximalist vocabulary reflecting the depth of Polish distrust toward Moscow. Rzeczpospolita, more moderate, analyzes implications for NATO's eastern flank security: a regime controlling its population's information can mobilize for escalation without internal opposition.

TVP (public television) devotes a special report to Russian digital dissidents using VPNs to circumvent blocks, drawing explicit parallels with Polish Solidarność-era dissidents who circumvented communist censorship. Do Rzeczy, conservative right, sees the blackouts as proof Russia is a totalitarian state impossible to reform.

Polish messianism is mobilized: Poland, former victim of Soviet domination, positions itself as champion of digital freedom in Eastern Europe. Warsaw calls for European sanctions targeting Russian tech companies involved in surveillance and shutdowns.

The security dimension is omnipresent: if Russia can cut internet in Moscow, it can also conduct cyberattacks against Polish networks. Poland's CERT is on heightened alert.