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.
“In connection with the evidence that the Russian special services committed a reprehensible act of sabotage against the shopping centre on Marywilska Street, I have decided to withdraw my consent to the operation of the consulate of the Russian Federation in Krakow,” Sikorski said in a statement.
The fire broke out May 12, 2024, in the Marywilska 44 shopping centre that housed some 1,400 shops and service points. Many of the vendors were from Vietnam, and it inflicted tragedy on many in Warsaw’s Vietnamese community.
