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Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, has suggested that Ukraine could take over the Russian consulate in the city of Poznań after he expelled Russia from the site due to acts of sabotage against Poland.
Sikorski last month ordered Russia to shut down the consulate and declared the diplomats stationed personae non gratae in Poland. On Saturday, the minister told journalists that Russia’s lease on the property expires at the end of November.
“We would certainly look with great sympathy at a request from the Ukrainian side” to take over the site, he added, quoted by news website Wirtualna Polska.
“Today’s network of Ukrainian consulates, taking into account the unprecedented increase in the number of Ukrainian citizens in Poland, does not reflect consular needs,” said Sikorski.
Rosyjscy dyplomaci w najbliższych dniach opuszczą konsulat w Poznaniu – powiedział minister spraw zagranicznych Radosław Sikorski. Dodał, że z życzliwością potraktowany byłby wniosek strony ukraińskiej o umieszczenie w tym miejscu konsulatu Ukrainyhttps://t.co/jW7iKPqdC7
— Michał Protaziuk (@michalprotaziuk) November 16, 2024
Almost 1 million Ukrainian refugees remain in Poland, while the country is also home to at least hundreds of thousands of economic migrants from Ukraine as well as many students. At the end of last year, Ukrainians made up around 4.5% of all people registered in Poland’s social insurance system.
Poland has been hit this year by a series of incidents that the government has blamed on Russian sabotage, including a fire that destroyed Warsaw’s largest shopping centre.
Last month, Sikorski accused Russia of “conducting a form of hybrid warfare against Poland”, including cyberattacks as well as sabotage. In response, he ordered the closure of the Poznań consulate, which has operated since 1971.
Poland has ordered a Russian consulate to close and its staff to leave the country in response to what it says are acts of sabotage and cyberwarfare being conducted by Moscow.
"Russia is conducting hybrid warfare against Poland," says the foreign ministry https://t.co/7ztvOAuFJZ
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 22, 2024
Speaking on Saturday, Sikorski, who is currently running in primary elections to choose a presidential candidate for the centrist Civic Coalition (KO), Poland’s main ruling group, declared that “we are ready to face the campaign of sabotage that Russia is conducting against Europe”.
“They are recruiting guys on [messaging service] Telegram, who are first paid €2,000 to take a photo of some object, and then they pay more to set it on fire,” he said. “This is happening all over Europe.”
“We know who is doing this, and by what methods. That is why I closed the Russian consulate in Poznań, to send a clear signal: we know what you are doing, stop doing this, if you do not stop I will close the rest [of the consulates].”
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Piotr Skornicki / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
