Polish news agency probably hit by Russian cyberattack, minister says

WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland's state news agency PAP was probably hit by a Russian cyberattack on Friday, a government minister said, after a false article about military mobilisation appeared on its news feed.

Warsaw has repeatedly accused Moscow of attempting to destabilise Poland because of its role in supplying military aid to Ukraine, allegations Russian officials have dismissed.

"Everything indicates that we are dealing with a cyberattack that was directed from the Russian side," Digital Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski told private broadcaster Polsat News, adding that special services including the Internal Security Agency were investigating.

The Russian embassy in Warsaw said it had no knowledge of the incident and declined further comment.

"Another very dangerous hacker attack well illustrates Russia's destabilisation strategy on the eve of the European elections," Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X.

The article that appeared twice on the PAP newswire, days before elections for the European Parliament, said Tusk would mobilise 200,000 people to fight in Ukraine.

"The false article was published twice on Friday - at 14.00 and 14.20," PAP wrote. "It was withdrawn both times. After the first withdrawal, it was re-released."

PAP said it was looking into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

"We have identified the source of access. We have secured this path," Justyna Wojteczek, deputy editor-in-chief of PAP, told Polsat News.

Poland's state-run National Research Institute (NASK) said on May 8 Russian cyberspies had targeted networks belonging to the government and recommended network administrators verify whether employees were under attack.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Timothy Heritage and David Holmes)