Russia closes Polish consulate in Siberia in response to the closure of its delegation in Gdansk

Russia revoked the work permit of the general consulate of Poland in Irkutsk in response to the closure of the Russian consulate in Gdansk, as reported this Thursday by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The Russian side has decided to revoke the permit to operate the Consulate General of Poland in Irkutsk, effective from December 30, 2025,” reads a statement published on the Foreign Ministry’s website. The Polish ambassador was summoned today, and was given a note informing him of the revocation of the operating permit for the delegation located in the Siberian region.

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Russian diplomatic authorities maintain that this is a response to the closure of the Russian consulate in the Polish city of Gdansk, the last Russian consulate in the country, which will take effect from December 23. “The closure by Polish leaders of the Russian consular presence in Poland on an absurd pretext is a manifestly hostile and unjustified measure, in response to which the last remaining Polish consular office in the Russian Federation will be closed,” Russian authorities said. Russia used the message to communicate that it will respond to all hostile actions against the country. Last week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova already anticipated that Moscow would respond in a “reciprocal” manner to Warsaw’s decision. The Kremlin, for its part, assured that Russian-Polish relations have “completely degraded” following Warsaw’s decision. At the time, Poland asserted that the closure of the delegation in Gdansk was retaliation for the recent sabotage on the railways, which it attributed to Russia and described as “state terrorism”. This year the Russian consulate in Krakow has already closed and in 2024 the one in Poznan will close, so now only the Warsaw embassy remains as the only representation of Russia in the country.