By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) - In a tit-for-tat move, Russia on Thursday announced that it had decided to close Poland’s Consulate in the Siberian city of Irkutsk by the end of the year.
Moscow’s decision to revoke its agreement for the functioning of the consulate as of Dec. 30 was conveyed to Warsaw in a note given to Polish Ambassador to Moscow Krzysztof Krajewski, said a Russian Foreign Ministry statement, adding that he was summoned to the ministry earlier in the day.
The statement said the decision was made in response “to the revocation by the Polish authorities, as of December 23, 2025, of the agreement to the functioning of the General Consulate of Russia in Gdansk.”
“Using an absurd pretext to curtail the Russian consular presence in Poland is an openly hostile and ungrounded step by the Polish leadership,” the statement added.
Russia “again reminds those planning to make unfriendly assaults on our country” for daily political concerns “that the Russian Federation will not leave these actions without a fitting and painful retaliation,” it added.
Earlier this month, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced the closure of the Russian Consulate General in Gdansk, the last operating Russian consulate in Poland, and signaled further retaliatory steps would be taken after attacks on Polish rail infrastructure, which Warsaw has blamed on Moscow. Russia has denied any responsibility.
Since last year Warsaw has shut down Russia’s consulates in the cities of Poznan and Krakow, citing what it described as acts of sabotage allegedly by Moscow.
Russia responded at the time by closing Poland’s consulates in the cities of St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad.
Following the decision on the consulate in Gdansk, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova declared on Nov. 19 that Moscow will reduce Poland’s diplomatic and consular presence in Russia.