Poland’s foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, announced on Wednesday the impending closure of the last remaining Russian consulate in the country. This decision follows the revelation that two Ukrainian citizens working for Russia are suspected of involvement in the sabotage of a railway line in Poland.
The minister emphasised that he has consistently communicated to Russia that any continued hostile actions against Poland would result in a further reduction of its diplomatic and consular presence, as reported by the Polish news agency PAP.
“In connection with this, though it will not be our full response, I have decided to withdraw consent for the operation of the last Russian consulate in Gdansk,” he said. He added that Russia would be formally notified within hours.
“This time it was an act of not only subversion, as happened before, but an act of state terror as its clear intention was to cause human casualties,” Sikorski said.
After the closure of the Gdansk consulate, Russia will remain with only its embassy in Warsaw.
In response, Moscow will “reduce Poland’s diplomatic and consular presence in Russia,” the state news agency RIA Novosti cited Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.
Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, labelled the weekend explosion on the railway line between Warsaw and the Ukrainian border as an “unprecedented act of sabotage.” The blast near Mika, about 100 kilometres southeast of Warsaw, caused no injuries but only damage. Additionally, power lines were damaged near Puławy, around 50 kilometres from Lublin.
Asked about Sikorski’s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during his daily conference call that Russia’s “relations with Poland have deteriorated completely.”
On Tuesday, Tusk informed the Polish parliament that the two suspects had long been collaborating with Russian secret services. Their identities are known but cannot be disclosed due to an ongoing investigation, and they have since left Poland for Belarus.
Western officials accuse Russia and its proxies of staging numerous attacks across Europe since the invasion of Ukraine, aiming to undermine support for Ukraine and create divisions within European societies.
Poland has closed two Russian consulates in recent years. The Krakow consulate was shut down earlier this year after a fire at a shopping centre in Warsaw in 2024 was determined to be arson ordered by Russian intelligence. In 2024, Sikorski also ordered the closure of the Poznan consulate due to sabotage acts linked to Moscow.
This article used information from The Associated Press.
