NATO 'at war' with Russia, Kremlin says, as propaganda blitz after Poland drone attack continues
By providing military assistance to Ukraine, NATO countries are "at war" with Russia, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian journalists during a Sept. 15 briefing.
"NATO is at war with Russia; this is obvious and needs no proof. NATO provides direct and indirect support to the Kyiv regime," Peskov said, repeating Moscow's narrative that Western backing for Ukraine equals participation in the war.
The remarks came just days after Poland confirmed it had shot down Russian drones in its airspace, the first known case of a NATO member downing Moscow's military assets over its own territory.
The statement also resembles Russian disinformation narratives identified by Polish analysts that surged after the drone incursion, including a claim that the incident drew Warsaw into a war with Moscow.
Russian propaganda spins drone incursion
The Kremlin’s claim that NATO is "at war" with Moscow closely mirrors Russian disinformation narratives that flooded the Polish information space shortly after the incursion.
A disinformation analysis center by NASK, Poland's national research institute, has reported an increased disinformation activity among Russian and Belarusian sources shortly after the incident.
One of the narratives listed by Polish researchers is that the incursion means Poland is effectively at war with Russia — a false claim that could "cause panic among the public," NASK warns.
Poland and other NATO members are not combatants in the Russia-Ukraine war but have supplied Kyiv with weapons, training, and financial aid to support its right to self-defense against Russia's full-scale invasion. The only country waging war in Ukraine is Russia.
Russian disinformation narratives identified by NASK are often contradictory, ranging from denying the incident altogether to blaming Ukraine, claiming Kyiv seeks to draw Poland and NATO into an open war with Russia.
Other claims depict the Polish military as incapable of defending the country's airspace or connect the incident to recent tensions between Poland's Presidential Office and Ukraine.
The campaign's chief goal is to "shift the responsibility for violating Polish airspace onto Ukraine and to discredit the actions taken by the Polish military and security services," NASK said.
Res Futura, a Polish NGO, also said the incursion was followed by an organized psychological operation (PSYOP) aimed at "escalating emotions, polarizing public opinion," and undermining trust in the Polish state and its allies.
The NGO's social media analysis revealed a high frequency of repetitive narratives in the Polish social media space, a feature typical of a coordinated operation rather than genuine public reactions.
As a result, the narrative portraying the incident as a "Ukrainian provocation" and a "false flag" operation was dominant among social media commentators (38%), followed by those blaming Russia (34%), according to the analysis.
"The drone attack was used not only as a military incident, but above all as a tool of psychological warfare," Res Futura's report read.
"Poland has been drawn into the next phase of a hybrid conflict, in which the main battlefield is the information space."
The Sept. 10 incident was not the only Russian violation of NATO airspace in the past few days.
Romania also scrambled F-16 fighter jets on Sept. 13 after detecting a drone crossing into its airspace during a Russian strike near the Ukrainian border. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the drone entered Romanian territory for nearly an hour.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas described the incident as a "reckless escalation."
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told the Kyiv Independent that the idea of closing part of Ukraine's airspace with NATO-stationed defenses could be revived after the attacks.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, known for incendiary rhetoric, warned that any NATO move to enforce a no-fly zone would mean "war between NATO and Russia."
Polish officials reported that 21 Russian drones violated the country's airspace during the Sept. 10 strike, with four intercepted. Warsaw has since triggered NATO's Article 4, which allows consultations when a member believes its security is threatened.
NATO has also launched its Eastern Sentry mission following the incident.
