The Polish authorities have taken control of a property rented by the Russian embassy after the lease was terminated for failure to pay rent. Despite repeated requests, the Russians had not vacated the property, says the state forest agency.
“Forest guards today entered the site of a resort in Skubianka on the Zegrze Reservoir, leased from State Forests by the Russian embassy,” tweeted State Forests (Lasy Państwowe) spokesman Michał Gzowski on Wednesday. “After the outbreak of war [in Ukraine], we terminated their contract.”
Straż Leśna przejęła i zabezpieczyła dziś nieruchomość, którą dzierżawiła rosyjska ambasada. Ośrodek wypoczynkowy położony w Leśnictwie Zegrze w obrębie #Skubianka wynajęła jeszcze w latach 80. XX w. ambasada radziecka. @LPanstwowe wypowiedziały umowę po agresji Rosji na Ukrainę.
— Ministerstwo Klimatu i Środowiska (@MKiS_GOV_PL) November 2, 2022
The site, which lies just outside Warsaw and has been leased by the Russians since the 1980s, covers some six hectares, on which stand two hotels, two villas and holiday cottages.
At the time of the takeover yesterday, the buildings were found to be in poor condition, with broken windows, rotting floors, collapsing roofs, wiring removed from walls, and broken appliances and furniture, reports news service Interia.
“The resort is completely devastated,” said Gzowski. “The Russians have destroyed everything, even the cables are ripped out of the walls.”
Straż Leśna wkroczyła dziś na teren ośrodka w Skubiance nad Zegrzem, dzierżawionym od @LPanstwowe przez rosyjską ambasadę. Po wybuchu wojny wypowiedzieliśmy im umowę. Ośrodek jest całkowicie zdewastowany. Rosjanie zniszczyli wszystko, powyrywane są nawet kable ze ścian. pic.twitter.com/HVJ3r3Djor
— Michał Gzowski (@GzowskiMichal) November 2, 2022
“We patiently waited for the property to be released by the Russian embassy,” said deputy climate minister Edward Siarka. “We have renewed calls on this issue on several occasions. We were hoping for an amicable settlement. Unfortunately, to no avail. For this reason, we have decided to take over and secure the facility.”
New plans for the property will be proposed after an inventory and expert assessment, added Siarka. The inventory is expected to take about a month and a half. By the end of the year, a decision is expected to be made on a development plan for the site.
The cost of the estate’s monthly lease was 12,000 zloty (€2,546). However, Russia stopped paying rent when its embassy’s bank accounts were frozen as a result of sanctions and the lease was terminated with immediate effect in mid-April. The arrears amounted to more than 40,000 zloty, reports local news service Nasze Miasto.
Russia’s ambassador to Poland, Sergey Andreev, said that the embassy will look into the property seizure. “The recreation centre is mothballed and has not been used since the beginning of this year. There are no embassy staff there now,” he said, as quoted by Russian news agency TASS.
In April, municipal authorities in Warsaw seized a former Russian diplomatic compound, known by locals as “Spyville”, after Russia failed to vacate it despite a court order.
After forcibly gaining entry to the site, the city’s mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski, declared that the building would be used to benefit the Ukrainian community.
Main photo credit: Karol Urbaniak/Lasy Panstowy (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
