Poland expels 45 Russians over espionage allegations
Created: 03/23/2022, 17:24
A man waves the Ukrainian and Polish flags in front of a building housing Russian diplomats during a demonstration in Warsaw, Poland.
© Czarek Sokolowski/AP/dpa
The Warsaw government is expelling Russian diplomats because of allegations of espionage and in view of the war in Ukraine: 45 Russians have to leave the country.
Moscow announces an “appropriate response”.
WARSAW - Poland's government has declared 45 Russians of different diplomatic status to be undesirables.
Poland, in coordination with its allies, has decided to significantly reduce the diplomatic staff at the Russian embassy in Poland, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lukasz Jasina said, according to the PAP news agency in Warsaw.
With one exception, the Russians have to leave Poland within five days.
One even has to leave the country within 48 hours.
violating the Vienna Convention
The reason given was that they had carried out activities that were incompatible with Polish law and violated the standards of the Vienna Convention.
"So activities that are not compatible with the status of diplomats," he said.
Polish authorities accuse them of espionage.
It is now expected that Russia, for its part, will expel Polish diplomats from the country.
"Further toleration of this type of illegal activity by Russian services would pose a general threat to Poland's security, but also to our allies in NATO and the European Union, with whom we coordinate such activities," Jasina said.
According to the Polish secret service ABW, there were 45 people who worked for Russian secret services and their employees and who had diplomatic status in Poland.
Due to Russia's policy towards Poland and its allies, as well as taking into account Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry had requested their urgent expulsion.
The individuals had and acted under diplomatic status, but de facto conducted intelligence activities against Poland on behalf of Russian intelligence services, spokesman for the Coordinator of Polish Intelligence Services Stanislaw Zaryn told journalists.
Polish Interior Minister and intelligence coordinator Mariusz Kaminski wrote on Twitter: "Poland expels 45 Russian spies posing as diplomats."
The representation of the Russian secret services in Poland will be smashed with full consistency and determination, it said.
Moscow threatens “appropriate response”
The Russian Foreign Ministry spoke of the "expulsion of almost all Russian diplomats from Poland" and announced an "appropriate response".
Overall, more people are affected by the expulsions than Russia even has diplomats in Poland.
According to the TASS agency, Russia's ambassador in Warsaw, Sergei Andreyev, criticized that there was "no basis whatsoever" for the Polish decision.
He himself is not affected.
When asked whether diplomatic relations between the two countries still existed at all, Andreyev said: "Formally, they exist."
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The Polish secret service also informed about the arrest of a Polish citizen who is accused of spying for Russian secret services.
The employee of a Warsaw authority was arrested on March 17 and was initially held in custody.
dpa