Poland's top diplomat said Monday, May 12, he ordered the closure of a Russian consulate over "sabotage," after authorities accused Russia of orchestrating a fire that destroyed a Warsaw shopping center last year. Russia immediately vowed an "adequate response" to Poland over the closure of the consulate in the southern city of Krakow.
Since Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv's ally Poland has claimed to be the target of sabotage attempts blamed on Russia.
Bordering Ukraine, Poland – a NATO and European Union member – is one of the main countries through which Western nations supply weapons and ammunition to Kyiv to help Ukraine fight Russia's invasion launched more than three years ago.
"Due to evidence that it was the Russian secret services that carried out the reprehensible act of sabotage against the Marywilska shopping center, I have decided to withdraw my authorisation for the activity of the Russian consulate in Krakow," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Monday. "I have a message for Russian authorities: we know what you are doing, we don't accept it and we are taking the appropriate measures," he added later.
Sikorski said that last year Poland had already closed Russia's consulate in the western city of Poznan "after the previous act of sabotage." Russia still has a consulate in the port city of Gdansk and an embassy in Warsaw.
Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said "Warsaw continues to deliberately undermine relations, acting against the interests of its citizens." "An adequate response to these inadequate steps will follow shortly," she told the RIA Novosti state news agency.
Poland's foreign ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski said it had summoned a representative of Russia's embassy in Warsaw for Monday afternoon. "It was a huge fire. It's a miracle no one died," he told reporters.
In May 2024, a fire completely destroyed a large shopping center in Warsaw and the 1,400 businesses it housed, most of them owned by members of the Vietnamese community. Authorities opened an investigation and on Sunday they pinned the blame on Moscow. "We now know for sure that the great fire of the Marywilska shopping center in Warsaw was caused by arson ordered by the Russian special services," said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The justice and interior ministries said in a separate statement Sunday that some of the alleged perpetrators were already in custody, while others had been identified but were still at large. "Their actions were organised and directed by a specific person residing in the Russian Federation", the two ministries said, adding that they were cooperating with Lithuania, "where some of the perpetrators also carried out acts of diversion."
On Monday, national prosecutors announced charges against two Ukrainian men "who collaborated with the individuals who carried out the arson." Prosecutors said in the statement that both men were charged with participating in an organised criminal group and carrying out an act of sabotage on behalf of Russia. "The goal of the group's activity was to carry out arson on large sites on the territory of European Union countries," they added. This group was notably also responsible for setting fire to an IKEA store on May 9, 2024 in Vilnius.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland has detained and convicted several people suspected of sabotage on behalf of Russian intelligence services, including assaults, arson or attempted arson.
In May 2024, Poland imposed restrictions on the movements of Russian diplomats on its soil, due to Moscow's "involvement" in a "hybrid war." Five months later, Warsaw ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Poznan, accusing Moscow of orchestrating "sabotage attempts."
In December, Polish diplomacy said it was willing to close all Russian consulates in Poland if acts of "terrorism" continued. Russia closed the Polish consulate in Saint Petersburg in January in retaliation.