Polish police break down school gates at Russian embassy in Warsaw

Video of Polish police breaking down the school gate at the Russian Embassy in Warsaw. (Source: RT)

According to RIA Novosti, Russian officials were ordered to open the doors, but refused to comply.

Video from the scene shows a man in plain clothes opening the front gate with a crowbar to allow uniformed officers to enter the campus. Polish officials then locked the gate to prevent property from being removed from the building.

Previously, on April 26, Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreyev said that all money in the accounts of the Russian Embassy and Trade Office in Warsaw had been confiscated by the Polish prosecutor's office.

“We have received information from the prosecutor’s office that money from the Santander Bank accounts of the embassy and the trade representative has been transferred to the prosecutor’s office account,” Mr Andreyev said.

Santander Bank then informed the Russian Embassy that it had stopped cooperating with the Russian government and closed the accounts.

According to Mr. Andreyev, there were significant amounts of both U.S. dollars and Polish zloty in both accounts. Mr. Andreyev called the incident a blatant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a 1961 convention that sets out the rights and responsibilities of diplomats .

Polish authorities froze the Russian Embassy's accounts over suspicions that the embassy might be involved in money laundering or terrorism. This left the Russian Embassy unable to pay rent on an entertainment facility near Warsaw, after which Polish authorities terminated the lease and seized the property in November 2022.

Another property, a house at 100 Sobieski Street, was seized last spring. At the time, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski said the money should be given to Ukrainian refugees. The Polish Foreign Ministry said the Russian Embassy illegally owned the building because it was not used for diplomatic or consular purposes. The Polish side ignored the Russian Embassy’s explanation that the building was unfit for habitation because it needed repairs.

Poland has also sought to seize a school run by the Russian Embassy in Warsaw for similar reasons.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has protested both seizures of assets, calling them a blatant violation of international law.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing administrative management of the assets of "unfriendly countries" , in response to the move to confiscate Russian assets abroad.

According to TASS news agency, the decree was announced on April 25 and was adopted on the grounds that it was necessary to take urgent measures in response to the illegal actions of the United States and other countries when these countries confiscated Russian property, Russian companies and citizens.

Real estate and assets in Russia (such as securities and shares in the charter capital of Russian companies) of entities of those countries will be placed under temporary administrative control in case of "unfriendly" actions by these countries, or if there is a threat to national security, economy, energy and defense capabilities.

The Federal Agency for State Property Management of the Russian Federation (Rosimushchestvo) will be the managing body. It will perform the duties of an owner, except for the right to dispose of the property. It will also inventory and protect the property under its management.

(Source: Tin Tuc Newspaper)

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