Poland to close Russian consulate in Krakow, citing arson attack

Warsaw: Poland will close the Russian consulate in Krakow after finding evidence that Moscow was responsible for a massive fire that almost completely destroyed a Warsaw shopping centre in May 2024, the Polish foreign minister said on Monday.

Already tense relations between Warsaw and Moscow have hit new lows since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Poland says its own role as a hub for aid for Kyiv has made it a target of Russian sabotage, cyberattacks and disinformation - allegations that Moscow denies.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Poland knew "for sure" that Russian secret services were behind the huge fire on Marywilska Street in the capital.

"Due to evidence that the Russian special services committed a reprehensible act of sabotage against the shopping center on Marywilska Street, I have decided to withdraw my consent to the operation of the Consulate of the Russian Federation in Krakow," Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski wrote on X.

The Russian foreign ministry said Poland was cutting its ties with Moscow on purpose, state news agency RIA reported.

"Warsaw continues to deliberately destroy relations, acting against the interests of its citizens," state news agency RIA quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying. She added that Russia would soon deliver an "adequate response".

In October, Poland announced it would shut down the Russian consulate in Poznan due to suspected Russian attempts at sabotage. Russia closed the Polish consulate in St. Petersburg in response.

In addition to Krakow and Poznan, Russia has a consulate in Gdansk and its embassy in Warsaw.

In March, Lithuanian prosecutors accused Russia's military intelligence of orchestrating an arson attack on an IKEA store in Vilnius, which broke out three days before the shopping centre fire in neighboring Poland.

Russia has denied involvement in the arson attacks.