“In Poland, they decided not to resort to forceful expulsion of Russian diplomats and employees from the building of the Polish consulate in Gdańsk, which Poland decided to close after sabotage on the railway.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: “European truth” with reference to RMF24
Details: After Warsaw’s decision to close the Russian Consulate in Gdańsk, the Russians were supposed to leave the building by the end of the day on December 23, but they refuse to do so. In particular, the embassy informed the Gdańsk City Hall that an “administrative and technical employee” of the embassy will remain in the building. Also, the Russian side declares that despite the closure of the consulate, it retains the right to use the building.
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According to the sources of journalists at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poland does not plan to use force to regain control of the building, or to cut off the electricity and water supply there – in particular, for reasons that they may do the same to Polish diplomats in Russia or to justify some other actions.
Instead, they decided to start a lengthy legal process and regain control of the building through a lawsuit and a court decision in favor of the State Treasury, which according to the records owns the building.
The head of the legal department of the Gdańsk City Hall, Cezariy Habel, noted that the arguments of the Russian Federation about the right to use the building are completely incomprehensible, since this is not supported by any Polish documents, and expressed the hope that Russia will participate in the legal process.
Returning the building to Polish control in this way may take several years.
For decades, Russians have treated the villa on Stephan Batory Street as their property. They did not pay for the use of the building, despite the fact that in 2013 the city began to charge a fee in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The consulate did not pay debts and did not respond to calls.
Gdansk estimated the debt for the years 2013-2023 at approximately 5.5 million zlotys, and together with interest – another 3 million zlotys. The case went to the court, which obliged Russia to pay almost 400,000 zlotys for part of the debt.
What preceded: Poland decided to close the Russian consulate in Gdańsk in response to two sabotages on the railway between Lublin and Warsaw.
After that, Russia withdrew its consent to the work of the Consulate General of Poland in Irkutsk.