Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin issued an order to close the Polish consular agency in Smolensk.
The agency, which was also responsible for issuing visas to residents of the region, was opened in 2012. In addition to the embassy in Moscow, Poland also has consulates in St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad and Irkutsk.
The press service of the Russian government called the decision a response to the «unfriendly actions» of the Polish authorities and the «illegal seizure of Russian diplomatic property on Polish territory» . We are talking about the eviction in the spring of a school at the Russian embassy on Kielce Street in Warsaw.
In April 2022, the temporary head of the agency, Malgorzata Kasperkiewicz, was among 45 Polish diplomats whom Russia expelled in response to a similar decision by the Polish authorities. The Polish secret services then suspected them of espionage.