The end of the Russian consulate in Gdańsk. The police close the station

Building at ul. Batorego in Gdańsk, which houses the consulate of the Russian Federation until midnight on Tuesday, will not be subject to permanent police surveillance after December 23. This is related to the decision of the head of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who ordered its employees to leave the consulate and leave Poland.

– Due to the fact that the building at ul. Batorego 13/15 loses its status as a diplomatic mission and will no longer be subject to permanent police supervision, Junior Asp. told PAP. Piotr Pawłowski from the Press Team of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Gdańsk.

He confirmed the findings of RMF FM radio, which reported that the room where police officers are on duty, located opposite the consulate building, would also be dismantled.

– The room belongs to the Provincial Police Headquarters in Gdańsk and will be dismantled at a later date. This is dictated by technical issues, said Pawłowski.

He explained that the permanent post will operate until December 23. Later, the area belonging to the building at ul. Batorego 13/15 will be subject to ad hoc police checks as part of standard official duties, due to the current geopolitical situation.

On November 19, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski, announced that he had withdrawn consent to the operation of the Russian consulate in Gdańsk in response to Russian acts of sabotage against railway lines in Poland. According to information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, until midnight on December 23 this year. the consulate must be closed and its employees must leave Polish territory.

In response to the actions of the Polish side, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Polish ambassador Krzysztof Krajewski for a conversation on November 27 and informed about the closure of the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Irkutsk on December 30.

On Monday, the vice-president of Gdańsk, Emilia Lodzińska, said that the Embassy of the Russian Federation had sent a letter to the Gdańsk city hall, informing that the properties at ul. Stefana Batory 13 and 15 in Gdańsk, where the current Russian consulate is located, “an administrative and technical employee of the embassy will stay.” Therefore, she added, “we will not be able to physically take over these properties.”

– The Russian side believes that the property belongs to the Russian Federation and therefore requests the use of all necessary measures to ensure the inviolability of the property – said Lodzińska. She added that – according to the Russian side – the buildings at ul. Stefana Batorego 13 and 15 in Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz “will continue to be diplomatic properties.”

She emphasized that – according to the entries in the land and mortgage registers – the owner of both properties is the State Treasury. – The Russian side's claims that the real estate belongs to them are wrong and untrue, said the vice-president of Gdańsk.

She announced that the city would take legal steps provided for in the Polish legal system.

Maciej Wewiór, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when asked about this matter by PAP, emphasized that the ministry's role in it de facto ends on Tuesday, because until that day there is consent for the operation of the Russian consulate. He noted that if after this date – as the Russian side signals to the Gdańsk authorities – a Russian administrative and technical employee stays in the building, it will mean that “we are entering the usual mode of asserting rights to real estate, which the State Treasury has already used many times.” He emphasized that this was a matter for the court to decide.

He recalled that a similar situation occurred, for example, in the case of one of the schools in Warsaw, whose building the Russians did not want to hand over. This case ended with the bailiff taking over the property.

Russian diplomats have occupied the consulate since post-war times. In 1951, the People's Republic of Poland and the Soviet Union signed an agreement on the free use of the building. After the collapse of the USSR, the property became the property of the State Treasury.

Meanwhile, for decades, the Russian side treated the villa at ul. Batory as your property. It did not pay for the use of the building, even though in 2013 the city started charging fees in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The consulate did not settle the amounts due and did not respond to calls.

Gdańsk estimated the arrears for the years 2013–2023 at approximately PLN 5.5 million, and the interest on this amount at another PLN 3 million. The case went to court, which ordered Russia to pay nearly PLN 400,000. PLN for part of the overdue fees. (PAP)pm/ mark/