Russia has ordered the Polish consulate in St. Petersburg to close in retaliation for Warsaw shuttering the Russian consulate in the Polish city of Poznan, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
“Three diplomatic staff members of the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in St. Petersburg have been declared persona non grata,” the ministry said.
The order for diplomats to leave Russia by Jan. 10, 2025, is part of a “painful response” Moscow promised after Poland ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in the western city of Poznan and the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats.
Poland, together with the three 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.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry claimed Thursday that the closure of its Poznan consulate was part of Poland’s “openly hostile policy” toward Moscow and efforts to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia.
For its part, Poland warned it would close all the Russian consulates on its soil if the “terrorism” it blames on Moscow carries on.
“If acts of diversion and terrorism continue, I will close down the rest of the Russian consulate presence in Poland,” Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters after Moscow announced the closure of its St. Petersburg consulate.
AFP contributed reporting
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