Political Tensions Escalate Between Russia and Poland
According to the English section of webangah News Agency, citing Mehr News Agency and Al Jazeera, Russia’s Foreign Ministry stated that Moscow has decided to shut down Poland’s consulate in Irkutsk starting December 30 in response to a similar action taken by Poland.
This move follows Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski’s recent claim accusing Russia of an operation related to an explosion on an eastern Polish railway line. Sikorski announced that Poland ordered the closure of the last remaining Russian consulate on its soil.
Polish officials initially alleged that the recent blast on a railway used for sending aid to Ukraine was “most likely” orchestrated by Russian intelligence services.on Thursday evening, Minister Sikorski explicitly attributed the attack to Russia and labeled it a “terrorist act.”
In recent years, Poland has closed two other Russian consulates located in krakow and Poznan; however, russia’s embassy in Warsaw remains open.
The Russian Foreign ministry also declared it would reduce Poland’s diplomatic and consular presence within Russia as a response.
While Russia firmly denies involvement in these so-called “sabotage attacks” across Europe, intelligence agencies from Poland and other European countries claim moscow has launched ”a campaign of fires, explosions, and infrastructure assaults aimed at testing Europe’s defenses and undermining support for Ukraine.”
