NATO country to close Russian consulate

Poland has ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in the city of Poznan and the expulsion of its employees, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced on Tuesday.

On Monday, the authorities in Warsaw announced the arrest of a suspected saboteur in the city of Wroclaw. Sikorski claimed that Russian intelligence was behind the alleged conspiracy.

“Russia is waging a war against Ukraine and a hybrid war against Western countries, including Poland,” Sikorski said on Tuesday. “I have information that the Russian special services are behind the sabotage attempts.”

“In this regard, I have decided to revoke consent for the functioning of the Russian consulate in Poznan. The consulate staff will be recognized as personae non grata on the territory of Poland,” he added.

Sikorski did not provide any evidence for the accusations against Russia. It was unclear how a consulate in Poznan may have had anything to do with an alleged plot in Wroclaw, 180km away.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow's response to the expulsions will be “painful.” 

Several NATO member countries, including the UK and Poland, have accused Russia of being behind warehouse fires, alleging that unwitting local proxies were being recruited to do Moscow’s bidding.

Earlier this month, the head of the British Security Service (MI5) claimed that Russia was behind “mayhem” on British streets, demanding more funding and greater authority to counter this alleged menace.

Russia has denied all allegations as nonsensical. In an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson earlier this year, President Vladimir Putin said that Western politicians were trying to scare their own populations by invoking an imaginary Russian threat in order to distract their attention from domestic troubles.