The Polish government has ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in the country's second-largest city, Krakow, after concluding that the Vladimir Putin government was behind the fire that devastated the Marywilska shopping center in Warsaw exactly a year ago. This was confirmed by the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radek Sikorski, upon arrival at the 'Weimar+' group meeting, which coordinates the actions of six European countries, including Spain, in defense of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Upon arriving at Lancaster House—the building in London where today's Monday meeting took place—Sikorski described the Russian secret services' action against Marywilska as "completely unacceptable", noting that "no one was injured in the incident purely by chance."
Over the past year and a half, Europe has experienced a series of sabotage and violent actions attributed to Russian secret services as retaliation for the support these countries are providing to Ukraine. Lithuanian authorities have also accused Russia of organizing the fire that destroyed an Ikea shopping center in May last year. Many of these attacks have been carried out by small criminals allegedly paid by Moscow, sometimes with cryptocurrencies that make it difficult to trace the transactions.
Sikorski is attending the Weimar+ meeting, from which a preliminary agreement is expected to impose new joint sanctions by the EU and the UK on Russia if Vladimir Putin does not agree, as seems likely, to a one-month ceasefire starting today, accompanied by direct peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, also present at the meeting, stated that "this is the moment for Putin and Russia to respond if they want peace".
Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, wrote in a social media post that "we now know for certain that the major fire on Marywilska Street was the result of an arson attack ordered by the Russian services."
According to Tusk, "the operation was coordinated by an individual in Russia." He mentioned that some of the perpetrators are already in custody, while the rest have been identified and are being pursued. "We will catch them all!", he emphasized.
These statements were preceded by a joint statement from the Polish Interior Minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, and the Minister of Justice, Adam Bodnar, who stated that, "based on the evidence collected, we know that the fire was set at the request of Russian special services."
Last year, Poland had already ordered the closure of another Russian consulate, the one in Poznan, in response to acts of sabotage and cyber warfare attributed to Moscow.