Poland’s foreign minister said on Monday, May 12th, that he ordered the closure of a Russian consulate over “sabotage” after authorities accused Russia of orchestrating a fire that destroyed a Warsaw shopping centre last year.
Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv-ally Poland has claimed to be the target of sabotage attempts the authorities blame on Russia.
“Due to evidence that it was the Russian secret services that carried out the reprehensible act of sabotage against the Marywilska shopping centre, I have decided to withdraw my authorisation for the activity of the Russian consulate in Krakow,” said Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski.
Russia immediately vowed an “adequate response” to Poland, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying that “Warsaw continues to deliberately undermine relations, acting against the interests of its citizens.”
In May 2024, a fire completely destroyed a large shopping centre in Warsaw and the 1,400 businesses it housed, most of them owned by members of the Vietnamese community.
