As of: March 25, 2024, 6:32 p.m
By: Michael Kister
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Press
Split
After a Russian cruise missile entered its airspace, Poland summoned Putin's ambassador to Warsaw.
But he didn't come.
Warsaw – Sergei Andreev, the Russian ambassador to Poland, was actually supposed to appear at the Polish Foreign Ministry for a meeting on Monday.
He was supposed to explain why a Russian cruise missile entered Polish airspace on March 24th.
However , a ministry spokesman told the Polish news agency
PAP
that Andreyev never showed up.
The diplomatic note with the request to clarify the incident will now be delivered to the Russian Foreign Ministry via a different route.
The spokesman did not skimp on criticism of the behavior of the diplomatic representative, whose duties are actually clearly laid down in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
“We wonder whether the ambassador is following the instructions of the Foreign Ministry in Moscow and whether he is able to properly represent the interests of the Russian Federation in Warsaw,” he said.
Sergei Andreyev, the Russian ambassador to Poland, did not appear despite being summoned.
The image is from May 9, 2023. © IMAGO/Andrzej Iwanczuk
Cruise missile incident: Russian ambassador in Warsaw refuses to be summoned
The cruise missile that sparked the scandal was shot down by a Russian long-range aircraft in the context of the Ukraine war.
It was probably one of around 20 weapons of this type that were fired at targets in the Lviv region of Ukraine on Sunday night.
According to Polish information, the cruise missile in question entered the airspace of NATO member Poland on March 24th at 4:23 a.m.
According to the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, the object was in Polish airspace near the village of Oserdow (Lublin Voivodeship) for 39 seconds.
Poland: Cruise missile was about to be launched
Even though it then left and was allegedly shot down over the Lviv region of Ukraine, Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called the incident "absolutely unacceptable" and summoned Vladimir Putin's ambassador.
“We will demand explanations,” emphasized Sikorski on Monday morning and also announced that he wanted to talk to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about the airspace violation.
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His Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis, meanwhile, called for a clear message to Russia that any missiles or drones that enter NATO airspace will be shot down.
In this regard, the Polish side said that if the cruise missile had remained in its own airspace for longer, it would have been shot down.
Both Polish and US F-16 interceptors have already been activated.
(Michael Kister/dpa)