On Saturday, Russia vowed to respond strongly against Poland for allegedly illegally seizing its embassy school in Warsaw, an act it considered to be a gross breach of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.
Police reportedly appeared outside the Russian embassy school on Kielecka Street in Warsaw on Saturday morning, according to an earlier report by Polish state-run news outlet TVP Info.
A spokeswoman for the Polish foreign ministry told Reuters that the facility that housed the embassy school belonged to the Polish state when questioned about the incident.
In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry claimed that the Polish authorities had barged onto the grounds of the embassy school with the intent of capturing it.
“We regard this latest hostile act by the Polish authorities as a blatant violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and as an encroachment on Russian diplomatic property in Poland,” the ministry said.
“Such an insolent step by Warsaw, which goes beyond the framework of civilised inter-state relations, will not remain without a harsh reaction and consequences for the Polish authorities and Polish interests in Russia,” it said.
The Investigative Committee of Russia said on the Telegram messaging app late on Saturday that it will provide “a legal assessment” of the “seizure,” but it made no further specific statements.
A spokesperson for the Polish foreign ministry, Lukasz Jasina, told Reuters that while Poland was following the law, Russia had the right to object.
“Our opinion, which has been confirmed by the courts, is that this property belongs to the Polish state and was taken by Russia illegally,” he said.
The property that houses the embassy school is a diplomatic one, according to Sergei Andreyev, the ambassador of Moscow to Poland, who had earlier told Russian state news outlets that Polish authorities had no jurisdiction to seize the building.
Relations between the two nations, which were already tense, have become even more strained as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. Warsaw has established itself as one of Kyiv’s most steadfast partners and has taken the lead in convincing allies to give it heavy weapons.
The Polish government took large sums of money from the blocked bank accounts of the Russian embassy and trade mission, according to Andreyev, the Russian ambassador, earlier this week.
Poland said in March 2022 that it was removing 45 Russian diplomats who it believed were affiliated with Moscow’s espionage agencies.
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