MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. The Russian Consulate General in Poznan must complete its work by November 30, with its diplomatic staff required to leave Poland within the same timeframe, Polish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Pawel Wronski told TVP Info.
"The consulate has been given a deadline of November 30 to vacate the building of the Russian Consulate General in Poznan. Russian diplomats have also been ordered to leave the country, as they are considered persons whose presence on the territory of Poland is undesirable," he said.
Wronski added that the consulate staff will depart Poland by November 30 but declined to specify the exact deadlines for each of the three diplomats involved.
On October 22, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced the decision to shut down the Russian consulate general in Poznan, adding that its staff will have to leave the republic in the upcoming days. Until now, three Russian consulates operated in Poland: in Krakow in the south, in Poznan in the West and in Gdansk in the north. Three Polish consulates remain open in Russia so far: in Kaliningrad, in St. Petersburg and in Irkutsk. In addition, Sikorski speculated that the Russian envoy might be expelled in the future. Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that Russia won’t hesitate to provide a response to Poland’s decision to shut down the consulate general in Poznan. She also noted that Moscow has once again witnessed a display of a "rampant Russophobia, multiplied by some morbid spy mania."