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St. Petersburg court authorizes eviction of Polish consulate general over unpaid rent

The Polish diplomats have failed to pay the rent for 20 years, the overall bill has reached $1.2 million
Polish Consulate building in St. Petersburg EPA/ANATOLY MALTSEV
Polish Consulate building in St. Petersburg
© EPA/ANATOLY MALTSEV

ST. PETERSBURG, March 17. /TASS/. The St. Petersburg arbitration court on Tuesday issued an enforcement order allowing bailiffs to evict the Polish consulate general from its offices in Russia’s second largest city.

Over the past 20 years, the Polish diplomats have failed to pay the rent. The overall bill has reached $1.2 million: the sum was calculated in the past three years as this is the maximum period for which the funds can be recovered under the law.

"The issue of the order does not mean that bailiffs will be automatically involved," said the head of a legal team of Inpredservis state unitary enterprise servicing foreign missions, Andrey Chernykh.

The company has sent a proposal to the Polish consulate general on resuming the talks on searching for the diplomatic solution to the issue, he said, adding that there has been no response so far.

The Polish consulate general refuses to comment on the situation.

In February, the court sustained in full a lawsuit against the Polish consulate general and ordered it to clear the debt.

The claimant says that the Soviet Union and Poland signed an inter-governmental agreement in 1983, in line with which two buildings were occupied by the consulate general. However, Poland withdrew from the agreement unilaterally in 1993 and no new rent agreement has been signed ever since then.