Declared non-grata by Warsaw, Russian diplomats “maintain close ties with the Russian secret services,” and therefore their stay in the country poses a “real threat to Polish interests.” This was stated by the press secretary of the Minister-Coordinator of the special services of the republic Stanislav Zharin. According to him, these conclusions were made by the National Agency for Internal Security. The names of those who must return home have not yet been named.
Earlier, the Polish Foreign Ministry noted that on April 15, Russian Ambassador Serhiy Andreev was handed a note, and the reason for the expulsion of three employees of the Russian diplomatic mission was “violation of the conditions of diplomatic status and their activities to the detriment of Poland.” The agency also expressed solidarity with the decisions taken the day before the United States against Moscow because of the “hostile actions” of the latter. We are talking about Allied support for the new sanctions, which targeted 16 Russian organizations and as many individuals. They are accused of interfering in the 2020 US presidential election and a large-scale cyber attack on the United States government network. Ten diplomats will also return home from this country.
Moscow threatened Warsaw with a harsh response. “This is not solidarity or even campaigning. This is a vassal of the 21st century,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on the news that the Russian ambassador had been summoned to the Polish Foreign Ministry.
Deputy Chairman of the Committee of the Federation Council on International Affairs Vladimir Jabarov called the republic “a faithful satellite of the United States, which underlines any American speech in this regard.” The chairman of the State Duma committee on international affairs, Leonid Slutsky, said that “another demonstrative Russophobic gesture.”
In recent months, more than 20 Russian diplomats have been expelled from European countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Norway. Just two weeks ago, two employees of the Russian embassy in Rome, suspected of espionage, returned to Russia. According to local law enforcement, the Russian military and his immediate superior received documents related to the Italian defense and NATO in exchange for a reward from a senior officer of the national navy.
In the French secret services there is a so-called “second wave”, calling the “first” expulsion of 160 employees of Russian diplomatic missions from Western countries in the spring of 2018 after the departure to the UK of former GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal.