“In light of the evidence that Russian intelligence services were behind the reprehensible act of sabotage at the shopping centre on Marywilska Street, I have decided to revoke the operating permit of the Russian Federation’s Consulate in Krakow,” Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski wrote on [social media].
The move follows the arrest of several suspects and an international investigation involving Lithuanian authorities, which uncovered similar sabotage efforts.
The closure of the consulate comes just a month after local media reported that authorities had quietly renewed the building’s lease, triggering protests in Kraków.
The fire, which broke out in May last year, destroyed 90% of the centre, but fortunately there were no casualties. It is now seen as part of a wider pattern of Russian-backed sabotage across central and eastern Europe.
[…]
In related news, Poland says Russia recruited arsonists for Warsaw fire on social media.
“We have evidence that they commissioned people living in Poland, they commissioned them on Telegram and paid them to set fire to this huge shopping mall,” Sikorski said on Monday …
The May 2024 fire destroyed 1,400 small businesses, with many of the staff there belonging to Warsaw’s Vietnamese community …
[…]
Edit: thank you for folks pointing out that it was a consulate closing not an embassy. Consulates are a bit different but closing one is still a big deal. I’ll leave my comment unchanged otherwise but keep in mind that closing of any diplomatic relations is always a bad thing.
It’s important for people to understand what the purpose of an embassy is to the host country. It provides an avenue to the guest country where both informal and formal discussions about their relations can occur.
The closing of an embassy is usually the precursor to war. It’s basically the host country saying, “You have committed such a heinous act that we will no longer honor your diplomats here. We will no longer try to deescalate with words.”
I’m genuinely surprised that it took this long for a country to close a Russian embassy.
I don’t think you can call them diplomats when in reality they’re spies.
And spies arent protected under geneva convention. And russia says we are at war with them…sooooooo
I’m astounded that Poland still had a Russian embassy.
A consulate is not an embassy, but sort of a local branch of the main embassy to a region. So closing one is not as radical an act. It is also not the first time that happened. After the war a lot of European countries kicked out Russian diplomatic staff, which forced them to close a number of consulates, however not an embassy as far as I know.