Polish Foreign Minister tells the BBC that there is evidence that Moscow was behind the fire at a huge shopping centre
Polish foreign minister says his country has evidence that Russia recruited people for Telegram messaging services to carry out a massive shopping centre fire in Warsaw last year.
Radek Sikorski spoke to the BBC in an exclusive interview, saying that Moscow’s actions were “completely unacceptable” and that as a result, Poland’s second Russian consulate was closed.
His comments come after a Polish investigation concluded that the fire at the Mary Virskha Shopping Centre was coordinated by Moscow’s intelligence agency.
Russia denied its involvement, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Poland of being “lost phobia.”
The May 2024 fire destroyed 1,400 small businesses, and many of the staff there belong to Warsaw’s Vietnamese community.
“There is evidence that they entrusted people living in Poland, they entrusted them with telegrams and paid them to light this huge shopping mall,” Sikorski said Monday.
“It was a miracle that no one was hurt, but this is completely unacceptable.”
The Foreign Minister told the BBC that Russia’s presence in Poland “music must be reduced further,” and that the Russian consulate in Krakow was closed to make it difficult for Moscow to “spy” in Poland.
“If we continue these hybrid attacks, we will make further decisions,” Sikorsky said.
Hybrid battles are the term used to describe how hostile conditions carry out an anonymous, negable attack in highly suspicious situations.
It would be sufficient to just harm the other party, especially the infrastructure assets, but it would not lead to any acts that could cause war.
Currently, only one consulate is open in Poland along with the embassy. Poznan’s mission was closed last year after Warsaw accused Russia of sabotage and cyber warfare.
When asked on Monday why Poland had not cut all diplomatic ties, Sikorsky said: “I hope it doesn’t come.”
In response to the closure of the Krakow Consulate, Peskov said:
“In Poland, there are many different accusations against Russia. This part is absolutely Roj Arabic and not friendly to our country.”
He added: “When it comes to reducing Russia’s diplomatic presence in Poland, these are integral parts of a common chain aimed at reducing the already deplorable state of bilateral relations.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has detained and convicted several people accused of obstruction on behalf of the Russian intelligence reporting agency.
Meanwhile, Maria Zakharova, a spokesman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, told national media.
Poland conducted a year-long investigation into the shopping centre incident and concluded that the fire was later organized by an unknown Russian person.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tass said on Sunday that some of the people responsible have already been detained, while all others allegedly involved have been identified and searched.
Many workers lost important documents and a large amount of cash from the fire that were kept in shopping centres due to fear of break-in at home.
Another shopping centre in Warsaw, Modlinska 6d, opened last October, and traders moved their business to a new site.
