Poland: Another Russian consulate closed after suspicion of sabotage by Moscow

The Polish Foreign Ministry announced on Monday the closure of a Russian consulate whose secret services were accused the day before of having ordered a large fire in Warsaw last year. In October, it had already done the same to the Russian consulate in Poznan .

"Due to the evidence that Russian special services committed a reprehensible act of sabotage against the shopping center (...), I have decided to withdraw my consent to the operation of the Consulate of the Russian Federation in Krakow," Radoslaw Sikorski wrote on X.

"Warsaw continues to deliberately undermine relations (...) An adequate response to these inadequate measures will follow soon," reacted the Russian ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova.

In May of last year, a fire completely destroyed a large market hall in the Polish capital containing 1,400 small businesses, mainly owned by members of the Vietnamese community.

On Sunday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X: "We now know for sure that the large fire in the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw was caused by arson ordered by the Russian special services."

Warsaw also indicated that it was cooperating "with Lithuania, where some of the perpetrators also carried out diversionary activities."

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland has arrested and convicted several people suspected of sabotage on behalf of Russian intelligence services, accused of beatings, arson, or attempted arson.