Saturday 29 April 2023

Russia vows firm response to Poland’s seizure of embassy school

Russia vows firm response to Poland’s seizure of embassy school

Russia vows firm response to Poland’s seizure of embassy school




©Valery Sharifulin/TASS






The Polish authorities’ intrusion into the Russian embassy’s school in Warsaw won’t be left without Moscow’s firm response and consequences for Poland, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.







"Such a brazen step by Warsaw that goes beyond civilized inter-state relations won’t be left without our firm response and consequences for the Polish authorities and Poland’s interests in Russia. The initiators of such contradictory and inflammatory ideas must be aware of that," the ministry said in the wake of the Russian embassy school’s seizure in Warsaw.


Russia deems the Polish authorities’ intrusion into the Russian embassy school in Warsaw as a violation of the 1961 Vienna convention, the ministry said.


"We deem these new hostile actions by the Polish authorities as a flagrant violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and a new encroachment on the Russian diplomatic property in Poland," the statement reads.


Adviser-councilor at the Russian embassy in Poland Andrey Ordash told TASS earlier that the Polish authorities had demanded that the staff of the Russian school at the embassy in Warsaw vacate the building by 7 p.m. He said that there were 29 people, including children in the school.


The Russian councilor added that the Polish authorities allowed the embassy staff "to take out equipment within a week."


Police and city officials have forcibly entered a school run by the Russian embassy in Warsaw on Saturday, RIA Novosti has reported. The news agency said Russian officials were ordered to open the door, but refused to comply.


Videos from the scene show a man in plain clothes opening the front gate with a crowbar, allowing uniformed officers to enter the school premises.


According to RIA, Polish officials then locked the gate in order to “prevent the removal of property” from the building.


The authorities told school staff to vacate the building by 6pm local time, RIA Novosti said.


Last year, Poland froze the accounts of the Russian embassy in response to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. Ambassador Sergey Andreyev said on Wednesday that prosecutors seized the bank accounts of the embassy and Russia’s trade mission. He blasted the move as “a flagrant violation” of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
























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