The Russian government announced that Moscow will shut down Poland’s consulate in Smolensk to reach “parity” in diplomatic presence, Interfax reported on Friday.
A government decree published Friday orders Russia’s Foreign Ministry to inform Warsaw of the decision to shutter the Smolensk consulate.
“The Russian government’s order approved as a retaliatory measure allows for the restoration of parity of Russian consular institutions in Poland and Polish institutions in Russia,” the cabinet’s press service told Interfax.
Moscow highlighted Poland’s “unfriendly” seizure in April of a high school for the children of Russian diplomats in Warsaw for the closure.
On its part, Russia’s Foreign Ministry threatened a “harsh reaction” to the move by Warsaw.
Following the Russian military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, the Polish courts ruled to return the Russian high school building back to Warsaw City Hall.
Warsaw maintained that Poland and Russia had a disparity in the number of diplomatic buildings each had in the other country.
The consulate in Smolensk was opened in 2011 to widen contacts between Russian and Polish citizens and to develop bilateral relations.
