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Editor's note: The article was updated with reporting that the Polish Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador.
Poland has revoked a permission for Russia to operate a consulate in Krakow over evidence that Russian intelligence services orchestrated an arson attack in Warsaw last year, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on May 12.
Previously, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused the Russian intelligence services of orchestrating a May 2024 arson attack on the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw.
"In view of evidence that it was the Russian intelligence services that carried out the reprehensible sabotage act against the shopping center at Marywilska Street, I have decided to withdraw permission for the operation of the Russian consulate in Krakow," Sikorski wrote on X.
Russian Ambassador Sergei Andreev was summoned to Poland’s Foreign Ministry on May 12 to receive a diplomatic note formally withdrawing consent for the operation of Russia’s consulate in Krakow, Polish outlet RMF 24 reported.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Henryka Moscicka-Dendys reportedly said Russia will be given a deadline, typically at least 30 days, to shut down the post, while its consulate in Gdansk will remain open.
On May 12, 2024, a massive fire destroyed a shopping center in Warsaw, which housed approximately 1,400 stores.
Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar and Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak also confirmed Moscow’s role in the attack, citing detailed intelligence. Some of the perpetrators have already been detained.
"We have in-depth knowledge of the order and course of the arson and the way in which the perpetrators documented it. Their actions were organized and directed by an identified person staying in the Russian Federation," the ministers said, according to Reuters.
The Russian Foreign Ministry, through spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, condemned Warsaw’s move and warned that Russia "will respond."
Western intelligence officials have warned about increasing Russian sabotage operations across Europe. Arson attacks have previously targeted other EU countries, raising suspicions of a coordinated Russian effort to destabilize the countries that support Ukraine against Russian aggression.
Polish authorities are cooperating with Lithuania, where the detained suspects allegedly carried out additional sabotage attacks.
Lithuanian authorities previously said they suspect Russia's intelligence services of orchestrating arson attacks on an IKEA warehouse in Vilnius, and had also linked Russia to the Warsaw shopping center attack.
The attack on the Ikea warehouse caused an estimated 500,000 euros ($545,000) in damage.
Officials did not provide additional details about the investigation into the fire or the suspects detained.
A number of suspected spy networks, allegedly run by Minsk and Moscow, have been uncovered in Poland over the past years.
Dmytro Basmat
