Move FM Global News

WARSAW, Poland: Poland has ordered Russia to shut down its consulate in Krakow following allegations that Moscow was involved in a fire that devastated a shopping center in Warsaw last year, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said this week.

The fire, which broke out on May 12, 2024, at the Marywilska 44 shopping center, destroyed a marketplace housing 1,400 shops and service points in Warsaw’s northern district. Many of the affected vendors were members of the city’s Vietnamese community. Polish authorities have since detained some suspects and are pursuing others whose identities are known.

“This was a huge fire of a shopping mall in Warsaw in which, just by sheer luck, nobody was hurt. This is completely unacceptable,” Sikorski said. “So the Russian consulate will have to leave. And if these attacks continue, we’ll take further action.”

The closure of the consulate follows the earlier shutdown of the Russian consulate in Poznan last year, which Sikorski said was due to Russian-sponsored acts of sabotage, including arson attacks. The only remaining Russian consulate in Poland is now located in Gdansk.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the accusations as baseless, accusing Poland of fueling anti-Russian sentiment. “Poland is choosing hostility against us,” Peskov said, warning that the decision would further strain already tense bilateral relations.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also weighed in, stating on X (formerly Twitter) that Polish officials “now know for certain” that the fire at Marywilska was a “result of arson commissioned by Russian services.”

“The actions were coordinated by a person residing in Russia,” Tusk wrote. “Some of the perpetrators are already in custody, while the rest have been identified and are being sought. We will catch them all!”

The incident has heightened concerns across Eastern Europe about Russian covert operations aimed at destabilizing the region. Lithuania, which has also accused Russia of carrying out an arson attack at an IKEA store in Vilnius last year, remains on high alert alongside other NATO members along the eastern flank.