Poland has decided to close the Russian Consulate of Krakow, accusing Moscow’s secret services of having used it for orchestrated a terrible fire in a shopping center in the capital, as an act of sabotage against the nation.
The Warsaw government claims to be certain that behind the fire that last year destroyed the largest shopping center in Warsaw, Marywilska 44, there is Vladimir Putin’s hand, and said she arrested some of the managers.
“We already know with certainty that the great fire of Marywilska was the result of a malicious fire ordered by Russian security services”, announced the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, stating that “the activities were coordinated by a person in Russia”, and adding that “some of the managers are already in custody, the others have been identified and research activities are underway”. “We will take them all!”, He then promised.
A direct message to Moscow
“In light of the tests that the Russian special services have committed a reproven act of sabotage” against the shopping center, “I decided to withdraw my consent to the functioning of the Consulate of the Federation of Russia in Krakow”, wrote the Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on X.
“I have a message for the Russian authorities: we know what you are doing, we do not accept it and we will draw the consequences,” he then said, rendering the Sikorski dose. The minister also recalled that Poland had already ordered the closure of the Russian consulate of Poznan in 2023, always following another episode of sabotage attributed to Moscow.
The accusations
According to the ministries of justice and interior Polish, the operation was organized by “a person identified as a resident in the Russian Federation”. The Warsaw Public Prosecutor provided further details, claiming that the stake would have been attached “by members of a organized criminal group that acted on behalf of the Russian secret services”, with the aim of causing fires in “large buildings located” on the territory of the European Union.
Also according to the Prosecutor, this same group would also be responsible for the fire of the Ikea shop that took place on 9 May 2024 in Vilnius, Lithuania. For this episode two Ukrainian citizens were offended.
Russia promises response
A Russian diplomatic representative was convened on Monday at the Polish Foreign Ministry, where a diplomatic note was given to him with the decision to close the Consulate of Krakow.
Moscow’s response was not long in coming. “Warsaw continues to consciously ruin relationships”, and for this reason “an adequate response to these inadequate measures will follow soon”, said Maria Zakharova, spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry, cited by Russian agencies.
A long series of tensions and sabotages
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has arrested and condemned individuals accused of operating for Moscow accusing them of beating, malicious fires, sabotage attempts.
In 2022, the local authorities of Krakow renamed the area outside the Russian consulate as “Libera Ukraine square”, as a sign of support for Kiev. Shortly before, Danzica had taken a similar step, opening the heroic square Mariulo in front of the Russian consulate.
In May 2024, Warsaw had already limited the freedom of movement of Russian diplomats in its territory, accusing the Kremlin of carrying on “a hybrid war”. The closure of the Poznan consulate had been followed.
In December, the Polish diplomacy had warned that, in the event of further “terrorism” acts, it would have been ready to close all the Russian consoles in the country. The Russian answer had arrived in January, with the closure of the Polish consulate in St. Petersburg.
A frontier of the West
Country bordering Ukraine, the ally Moscow Belarus and the Russian Exclave of Kaliningrad, Poland has become a fundamental joint for the transfer of western weapons and ammunition to Kiev. Member of the European Union and NATO, Warsaw is one of the most active actors in supporting Ukrainian resistance.
