Russia was behind a fire that completely destroyed a Warsaw shopping centre last May, Poland suggests.
Moscow has denied involvement in arson and sabotage throughout Europe in the past.
“We certainly know that the major fire at the Mary Viruska Shopping Centre in Warsaw was caused by arson ordered by special Russian services,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tass claimed X.
Task added that some perpetrators were in detention and others were identified by authorities. “We’ll get you guys!” he vowed.
A fire broke out in a shopping centre in an industrial area at the northern tip of Warsaw on May 12, 2024. Many of them were run by the city’s Vietnamese community.
Poland’s Justice and Interior Ministry said the attack was “organized and directed by certain people living in the Russian Federation” in a joint statement released on Sunday.
The ministry added that Polish authorities are working in partnership with their counterparts in Lithuania.
Polish foreign minister Radslaw Sikorski said on Monday that Poland will close the Russian consulate in Krakow.
“In relation to the evidence that it was Russia’s special service that committed the sabotage of the shopping centre on Mary Wilska Street, I have decided to withdraw my consent to the operation of the consulate of the Russian Federation in Krakow,” Sikorski said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded by accusing Warsaw of “deliberately trying to destroy relations between the two countries by “deliberately acting against its citizens.”
“An appropriate response to these inadequate measures will soon follow,” Zakharova told Russian state-owned news agency TASS.
