Russia accuses Poland of confiscating a school of its embassy in Warsaw

Polish state news channel TVP Info reported that police appeared outside the Russian embassy school in Warsaw on Saturday morning. Asked about the incident, a spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry told Reuters that the building that houses the embassy school belongs to the Polish state.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia sent in a statement that the Polish authorities raided the grounds of the embassy school with the aim of confiscating it. “We consider this latest hostile act by the Polish authorities a flagrant violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and a violation of Russian diplomatic property in Poland,” the ministry said.

“Such an insolent step by Warsaw, which goes beyond the framework of civilized interstate relations, will not remain without a harsh reaction and consequences for the Polish authorities and Polish interests in Russia,” the statement said.

Lukasz Jasina, a spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry, told Reuters that Russia had the right to protest, but that Poland was acting in accordance with the law.

“Our opinion, which has been confirmed by the courts, is that this property belongs to the Polish state and was illegally taken by Russia,” he said.

Sergei Andreev, Moscow’s ambassador to Poland, told Russian state news agencies that the building that houses the embassy school is a diplomatic building that the Polish authorities have no right to seize.