Poland closed a Russian consulate in Poznan, a city in the western part of the country, due to alleged sabotage concerns.
“As the minister of foreign affairs, I have information that the Russian Federation is behind sabotage attempts in Poland and allied countries. In connection with this, we withdrew our consent to the functioning of the Russian consulate in Poznan,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters on Tuesday afternoon, as reported by Reuters.
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Poland said the city is a prime target for Russian espionage since it serves as a key transit hub for military supplies to Ukraine.
Sikorski anticipated retaliatory moves by the Kremlin, with Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova criticizing Warsaw’s move as “unbridled Russophobia.”
“We have once again witnessed official Warsaw’s display of unbridled Russophobia, coupled with a morbid spy mania … The Polish authorities are trying to score points by intimidating citizens with the Russian threat,” Zakharova said.
The decision to close the consulate followed an arson attempt in Wroclaw, 144 km (90 miles) south of Poznan, where a 51-year-old Ukrainian national attempted to set fire to a paint factory on the orders of Russian intelligence. Wroclaw also hosts one of the largest Ukrainian refugee communities inside the country after Russia’s 2022 invasion.
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“The court found that there was strong evidence that there was an attempt of sabotage and that foreign intelligence was behind this sabotage,” Sikorski told reporters on Tuesday afternoon, referring to the court case on the Wroclaw arson attempt.
European intelligence agencies have linked a series of arson attacks across the continent to Russian elements, including one where an incendiary device was planted on a plane to the UK that later caught fire at a processing facility.
European officials have also recently stepped up accusations of Russian espionage activities, with Germany’s security service claiming in June that Moscow has been recruiting spies from all walks of life after hundreds of diplomats were uncovered as spies and expelled, a claim echoed by other European agencies.
Richard Moore, the head of the British MI6 spy agency, said “Russian intelligence services have gone a bit feral” in September. In one instance, Russian agents were said to have attempted to assassinate the CEO of the German defense contractor Rheinmetall.
