Moscow slams seizure of school of Russian Embassy in Warsaw

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Moscow slammed on Saturday the seizure of the Russian Embassy school in Warsaw by Polish authorities.

In a statement on its website, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Poland's "hostile actions" are a "blatant violation" of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and another encroachment on Russian diplomatic property.

"Such an impudent step by Warsaw, which goes beyond the framework of civilized interstate communication, will not remain without our harsh reaction and consequences for the Polish authorities and Poland's interests in Russia," the ministry stressed.

In a separate statement on Telegram, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova qualified the actions of the Polish authorities as "provocation."

"Official Warsaw has been violating the law for many years: international legislation, bilateral agreements, domestic legislation. Behaves defiantly and unlawfully. What can be described in one word -- provocation," Zakharova said.

Polish police broke the doors of the school of the Russian Embassy in Warsaw earlier in the day, blocked the exits, and gave people who were in the building until 7 p.m. local time (1700GMT) to leave the premises.

Since Moscow started what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine, Poland, one of the main Kyiv supporters, began a crackdown on Russian diplomatic missions and commercial companies.

In March 2022, Warsaw blocked accounts of the Russian Embassy, while on April 26 this year, the Polish Attorney General ruled to confiscate the frozen money.

In April last year, Polish police seized a building in Warsaw that is Russian diplomatic real estate, and the Ukrainian Embassy to Poland then said it may use it for its needs.

On May 9, 2022, when Russia celebrates its victory over Nazi Germany, Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreev was attacked while trying to lay flowers at the war memorial cemetery of Soviet soldiers in Warsaw, and there was another attack in Gdansk on the Russian Consul General Sergey Semenov, who came to lay a wreath at the local cemetery of Soviet soldiers.

In November last year, the Polish authorities took away a recreation center of the Russian Embassy, located on the outskirts of Warsaw.