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Nevolfovich cited Politico while talking about the consequences of Poland’s border closure — but distorted the article’s content
Poland “dealt a blow to trade between China and the EU,” the Telegram channel’s authors wrote.
The authors of Nevolfovich described the problems Poland supposedly created for its allies by shutting the border with Belarus. The post about that topic cited Poltico as a source. We found how the information from the source material was manipulated.
The Telegram channel Nevolfovich posted about the supposed losses Western countries were facing because freight could no longer move through the Belarus-Poland border on September 19, 2025.
“By shutting the border with Belarus, Poland has effectively struck a blow at trade between China and the European Union, Politico writes. As a result of this decision, rail freight worth an estimated €25 billion a year has come to a halt. The hardest hit was the key route that carries about 90% of rail trade between the EU and China. Europe is critically dependent on Chinese trade, and now the losses are falling above all on Western countries, not Poland’s eastern neighbors. In effect, Warsaw created problems for its own allies,” the Telegram channel’s authors wrote.
The WTF team tracked down the Politico article cited in the post. It noted that 90% of rail cargo between China and the EU passed through Poland and that both freight volume and the value of goods were increasing. But it did not say Europe was critically dependent on this route. According to the outlet, the corridor accounted for 3.7% of total EU-China trade in 2025. In addition, experts quoted by the outlet pointed out that goods could be redirected to other routes, and ports in other EU countries would gladly take them in.
As for China, the same experts said that while some provinces might feel noticeable losses, the impact would not be enough to influence Beijing’s political stance.
