Poland has ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in the western city of Poznan over Moscow’s alleged “sabotage” attempts inside the country, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Tuesday.
“I have information that Russia is behind sabotage attempts in Poland and allied countries. I have therefore decided to withdraw my permission for the Russian consulate to operate in Poznan,” Sikorski told reporters.
Russian staff at the consular mission will be recognized as “undesirable,” Poland’s state news agency PAP quoted him as saying.
Sikorski cited a court case in the western Polish city of Wroclaw, where a Ukrainian man reportedly confessed to cooperating with Russian intelligence to commit arson attacks at strategic sites, as evidence of Russian sabotage over Poland’s support for Ukraine.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova promised a “painful response” to Warsaw’s “unfriendly step.”
Poland, together with the four other EU member countries in the Baltics, has accused Russia of orchestrating hybrid attacks including “intimidation, the instrumentalization of migrants, sabotage, disinformation, foreign information manipulation and interference.”
AFP contributed reporting.
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