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Russia sees no need to downgrade relations with Poland, ambassador says

Sergey Andreyev explained that relations will eventually need to be restored, so Russia does not want to initiate an escalation

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. Moscow does not plan to downgrade the level of diplomatic relations with Warsaw in the wake of the closure of the Russian consulate general in Poznan, Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreyev told Rossiya-24 television.

"We don’t see any need for this, and, actually, we never escalate things on our own," the diplomat said when a TV presenter asked him whether Russia would now need to lower the level of its diplomatic relations with Poland.

The ambassador explained that relations will eventually need to be restored, so Russia does not want to initiate an escalation. "If we remove, close or liquidate everything, it will be much more difficult later, and restoring [relations] will come at a much higher price," Andreyev concluded.

On October 22, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced the decision to shut down the Russian consulate general in Poznan and expel its staff from the republic. Until that moment, three Russian consulates general operated in Poland, namely in Krakow, Poznan and in Gdansk. Three Polish consulates remain open in Russia: in Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg and Irkutsk. In addition, Poland’s top diplomat speculated that the Russian envoy might be expelled in the future.

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that Russia won’t hesitate to respond to the latest Polish move. She also noted that Moscow was once again witnessing Warsaw’s "rampant Russophobia, aggravated by some morbid spy mania."