MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. The Polish authorities, who claim that Russia has carried out acts of sabotage in Poland, have yet to present any evidence to substantiate their claims, Russian Ambassador to Warsaw Sergey Andreyev told Rossiya-24 television in an interview.
A major fire broke out at a shopping mall on Marywilska Street in Warsaw’s northern part early on May 12, 2024. The entire building burned down. Poland’s authorities claimed "Russian special services" were behind the incident. Exactly one year later, on May 12, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced that Russia’s consulate general in Krakow would be shut down, citing the results of a domestic investigation that points to Russian involvement.
"They justify it [the consulate’s closure] by claims that Russia was allegedly involved in acts of sabotage in Poland, that our special services organized last year’s shopping mall fire and that Polish law enforcement allegedly has irrefutable evidence to substantiate that, which they, of course, have not presented," Andreyev said.
According to the Russian diplomat, the consulate must shut its doors by June 30. Russian or Polish citizens seeking consular services will have to travel to Gdansk or Warsaw.
Russian Foreign Ministry official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow will soon give an appropriate response to Warsaw’s unfriendly steps.
The closure of the Russian consulate in Krakow marks the second instance in which Polish authorities have leveled unsubstantiated sabotage accusations against Moscow. In October 2024, Sikorski announced that the Russian Consulate General in Poznan would be closed amid claims of Moscow’s involvement in another arson incident in Wroclaw. In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry closed the Polish consulate in St. Petersburg.