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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, has announced the closure of Russia’s consulate in the city of Gdańsk in response to last week’s sabotage of a rail line.
The decision means that all of Russia’s consulates in Poland have now been closed in retaliation for Moscow’s campaign of sabotage, with only the embassy in Warsaw remaining open.
Polska wycofuje zgodę na funkcjonowanie rosyjskiego konsulatu w Gdańsku
Sikorski ogłasza decyzję#300POLITYKALIVEhttps://t.co/EoL94heGBs
— 300Polityka 🇵🇱 (@300polityka) November 19, 2025
“Russia not only has not stopped, but is escalating these attacks,” said Sikorski, speaking in parliament on Wednesday morning. “When the intention behind espionage and sabotage activities is to cause human casualties, then we are no longer dealing with sabotage, but rather with state terror.”
“Therefore, although this will not be our full response, I have already decided to withdraw consent for the operation of the Russian consulate, the last one, in Gdańsk, which will be communicated to the Russian side in an official note within the next few hours,” he added.
However, Sikorski also confirmed that “we are not planning to break off diplomatic relations with Russia, just as other countries on whose territory acts of sabotage or terrorism have taken place do not break them”.
In response to Sikorski’s announcement, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that it was a further sign that “relations with Poland have completely collapsed” and “one can only express regret”, reports the Rzeczpospolita daily.
Russian foreign minister spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, meanwhile, said that, “as a reciprocal measure, the Russian side will reduce Poland’s diplomatic and consular presence in Russia”.
Last year, Sikorski similarly ordered the closure of Russia’s consulate in Poznań and the expulsion of the staff working there in response to Moscow’s campaign of sabotage and cyberwarfare against Poland.
In May this year, he did the same with the Russian consulate in Kraków, after it was determined that Moscow was behind the fire that last year destroyed Warsaw’s largest shopping centre, as part of a broader series of arson attacks in Poland and other EU countries.
Three Ukrainians have been jailed in Poland for their role in a group tasked with carrying out sabotage and terrorism.
That included the fire that destroyed Warsaw’s largest shopping centre, which Polish prosecutors say was carried out on Russia’s orders https://t.co/xuFx5T4HH9
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 24, 2025
The latest decision follows the discovery on Sunday of sabotage on two parts of a train line running between Warsaw and the eastern Polish city of Lublin. In one case, an explosive device was detonated in an attempt to attack a freight train travelling on the route.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the perpetrators of the sabotage had been identified as two Ukrainians working on behalf of Russia. They had entered Poland from Belarus earlier this autumn and then fled back across the border immediately after the incident.
However, on Wednesday, the spokesman for Poland’s security services, Jacek Dobrzyński, revealed that the Internal Security Agency (ABW) and police had detained an unspecified number of people in relation to the train line sabotage.
“These individuals are currently being questioned, and their roles in this terrorist attack are being determined,” said Dobrzyński, without revealing any further details about their identity. “We don’t rule out further arrests.”
Two Ukrainians recruited by Russia carried out the acts of sabotage that damaged a train line in Poland, says Prime Minister @donaldtusk.
The pair then immediately fled to Belarus https://t.co/QPIRTDjQyP
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) November 18, 2025
Today, Sikorski announced that he would speak with NATO’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte, this evening to discuss the situation before briefing a meeting of NATO foreign ministers tomorrow.
He said that Poland would encourage its allies to restrict the movement of Russian diplomats within the European Schengen area, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP). An estimated 40% of such staff perform tasks that are incompatible with diplomatic status, claimed Sikorski.
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: Michal Ryniak / 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.
