The mayor of Warsaw said that the complex, which is run by the Russian diplomatic mission, becomes the property of the city and will be made available to the Ukrainian community, according to BTA.
Rafal Tschaskovsky said the bailiff entered the empty buildings to check on their condition and note that they had become the property of the mayor’s office.
“It is very symbolic that we are ending this long-term procedure, and during the Russian aggression in Ukraine,” Tsaskovsky wrote on Twitter.
The Russian embassy, which commissioned the construction of high-rise apartment buildings in the 1970s, refused to comply with court orders to pay rent or transfer it to the Polish side. The once bustling buildings fell into disrepair in the 1990s, when Poland emerged from communist rule and dependence on Moscow, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Since then, Poland has stated that the lease has expired and is demanding its return.
Reacting to the actions of the Warsaw authorities, the Russian ambassador to Poland accused them of seizing Russian diplomatic property. According to Reuters, Ambassador Serhiy Andreev was referring to a dilapidated communist-era apartment building that Warsaw Mayor Rafal Tshaskovsky said would be used to house Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russian military intervention in their country.