Poland orders closure of Russian consulate in Krakow, citing arson attack blamed on Moscow

A fire burns from a vast shopping complex in Warsaw, Poland, May 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Norbert Ofmanski, File)

WARSAW, Poland — Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said Monday that he was ordering the closure of Russia’s consulate in the southern city of Krakow after Polish authorities said Russia was responsible for a fire that destroyed a shopping centre in Warsaw last year.

Polish authorities say some perpetrators have been detained and that they are still searching for others whose identities are known.

The fire broke out May 12, 2024, in the Marywilska 44 shopping centre that housed some 1,400 shops and service points, a budget marketplace in a warehouse-like structure in a northern district of Warsaw. Many of the vendors were from Vietnam, and it inflicted tragedy on many in Warsaw’s Vietnamese community.

“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.”

Speaking with journalists on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the accusations as being groundless and rooted in anti-Russian sentiment. He also said that Warsaw’s decision to close the consulate would damage bilateral relations between Russia and Poland, which Peskov described as already being in “a deplorable state.”

“Poland is choosing hostility against us,” he said.

Sikorski last year already ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Poznan, one of three at the time in Poland, in response to acts of sabotage including arson attacks that he said were sponsored by Moscow.

This leaves only one Russian consulate left, in Gdansk.

There are rising concerns in Europe over Russian attempts to destabilize the region through covert operations.

Countries along NATO’s eastern flank, like Poland and the Baltic states, feel especially vulnerable. Lithuania in March accused Russia of carrying out an arson attack at an IKEA in the capital, Vilnius, last year.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk tweeted about the case late Sunday. He said Polish officials “now know for certain that the massive fire on Marywilska was the result of arson commissioned by Russian services.”

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

By Vanessa Gera