Moscow ordered the closing of the Russian consulate in Kaliningrad-occupied Polish on Friday, with the move of the tit tat, as relations between the states remained tense amid the Warsaw fires claimed by Poland as Russia destroyed.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the latest closure was retaliation against Poland’s decision to close the Russian consulate in Krakow in May 2025. “Without proper reactions and consequences, unfriendly attacks on our country will remain the same,” the Russian agency said.
Polish News Agency reported that Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Pavel Vronsky said Moscow’s decision “has been calculated, but that does not mean that it is correct,” Polish News Agency reported.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it was the Warsaw shopping mall commissioned by Russian security agencies to set fire to close the Russian consulate in Krakow.
No one was killed in the Marywilska 44 shopping mall fire on May 12, 2024, but it destroyed the market for 1,400 stores and service points, many of which are vendors from the Vietnamese community in Warsaw.
Russia has denied its involvement in the Mariverska fire and other acts of vandalism in Poland, with Warsaw officials attributed to Moscow.
Last year, Poland ordered the Russian consulate to close in Poznan in response to vandalism, including arson attacks, and officials said the officials were sponsored by Moscow.
The latest closure is only left in a Russian consulate in Poland in Gedansk.
Russia-Poland relations have deteriorated since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2024, with Warsaw firmly supporting Kiev and providing assistance.
Russia is trying to destabilize Europe through secret operations throughout the African continent, which has also attracted attention.
A British jury found three arson charges in the attack on an east London warehouse that stocked equipment originally intended to be Ukraine on Tuesday. Authorities say Russian intelligence is behind the plot.
NATO’s eastern side, such as Poland and the Baltic countries, are particularly vulnerable. In March, Lithuania accused Russia of launching a fire attack at an IKEA store in the capital Vilnius last year.
