by Olha Hembik | 2025-12-24

WARSAW -- The Russian Embassy in Warsaw occupies some of the most sensitive real estate in Poland -- a four-hectare compound wedged between the Ministry of National Defense, the Prime Minister's Office and the president's official residence at Belweder Palace. After recent acts of railway sabotage and what Polish leaders describe as Russian "state terrorism," lawmakers say that proximity has become a national security liability.

On November 21, Poland's parliament voted almost unanimously to urge the government to relocate the embassy, citing intelligence risks, hybrid warfare and Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. The resolution passed with 439 votes in favor and one abstention. No lawmaker voted against it.

Embassy under scrutiny

The Sejm adopted the resolution "on the urgent need to ensure the security of the area around the Ministry of National Defense," calling on the government to move the Russian Embassy to another city in line with international law.

The embassy marked its 70th anniversary this year. Established as a Soviet diplomatic mission, it remains "one of the most important Russian facilities abroad," according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the street hosting the embassy has been renamed the Alley of Victims of Russian Aggression. The compound has also become a regular site of pro-Ukrainian rallies, anti-war protests and demonstrations.

The ruling Law and Justice party drafted the relocation resolution in September. Party leader Jarosław Kaczyński said the move is necessary "in the face of Russia's aggressive actions, drone attacks and acts of sabotage."

He said the embassy's current location represents a "serious intelligence threat" that Polish counterintelligence should eliminate as quickly as possible.

Sabotage and 'state terrorism'

A series of railway sabotage incidents in mid-November accelerated parliamentary action.

Between November 15 and 17, several attacks targeted the Warsaw–Dorohusk railway line. Saboteurs detonated an explosive device near the town of Mika, destroying part of the tracks. In a separate incident, a passenger train near Golomb was forced to brake sharply after crews discovered damage to the railway. Authorities reported no casualties.

Addressing lawmakers, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Russia had entered a new phase of hybrid warfare aimed at destabilizing Poland.

"Acts of sabotage, inspired and directly organized by the Kremlin's intelligence services over many months, recently crossed a certain critical line, and now we can even speak of state terrorism," Tusk said.

He accused Russian authorities of deliberately seeking chaos and panic inside Poland.

Investigators later identified two Ukrainians acting under Russian direction as suspects in the bombings. Authorities said the men entered Poland from Belarus using forged passports and remained in the country for only a few hours.

Aleksandr Pestrikov, an expert with the Ukrainian House Foundation in Warsaw, said Polish prosecutors and police have recently reported a growing number of cases involving Ukrainians recruited by Russian intelligence.

He told Kontur that further reductions in Russia's diplomatic presence could improve security for Ukrainians living in Poland.

Pestrikov noted that Russian intelligence services typically coordinate operations through official diplomatic channels. As that presence shrinks, such cases may become less frequent or disappear altogether.

Diplomatic fallout grows

The railway sabotage also triggered additional diplomatic measures.

Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski revoked permission for Russia's last remaining consulate in Poland, located in Gdansk, to operate. The Foreign Ministry said the consulate would close by midnight on December 23 and that all staff must leave the country by then.

Dasha Balabay, director of the Ukrainian Library in Gdansk, told Kontur Ukrainian and Polish activists had pushed for the closure for years.

She described Gdansk as strategically sensitive due to its Baltic Sea location and proximity to Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, military bases and naval forces. Maintaining a Russian consulate there posed a security risk, she argued.

International relations expert Stanislav Zhelikhovsky said the conditions for severing diplomatic relations between Poland and Russia do not yet exist.

Still, he told Kontur that relocating the embassy from central Warsaw would reduce risks to key government institutions.

"A change of location will undermine Russia's plans, and it will no longer be able to act so quickly on Polish territory," Zhelikhovsky said.

He added that the move carries symbolic weight, calling the embassy's current location a Soviet-era legacy that no longer fits Poland's security reality.

Responding to the closure of Russia's consulate in Gdansk, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "relations with Poland have completely deteriorated." He described the decision as an attempt to eliminate remaining diplomatic and consular ties.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow would respond by reducing Poland's diplomatic and consular presence in Russia.

Zhelikhovsky predicted reciprocal measures and warned that Russia could resort to provocations, including attacks on culturally significant sites such as graves or monuments abroad.

On December 15, activists associated with Euromaidan Warsaw began collecting signatures to close the Russian Center for Science and Culture, known as RONIK, which is adjacent to the embassy.

The campaign followed a lecture at the center in which a speaker portrayed prewar Poland as a Nazi state and accused modern Poland of "systemic Russophobia."

Activists say RONIK is run by Rossotrudnichestvo, a Russian government agency subordinate to the Foreign Ministry, and functions as a channel for Russian influence and propaganda.

Poland previously closed Russian consulates in Poznan and Krakow following sabotage and arson attacks linked to the Kremlin. Russia responded by closing Polish consulates in St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad.

Most recently, Moscow announced the closure of Poland's consulate in Irkutsk, the last Polish consular office remaining in Russia.