Russia summoned Poland's ambassador on Thursday and announced it would shut Warsaw's consulate in the Siberian city of Irkutsk in retaliation for Poland closing a Russian consulate over accusations of sabotage.
Russia's Ukraine offensive has badly damaged ties between Warsaw and Moscow, with Poland becoming a hub for Kiev-bound Western weapons and taking in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees.
Warsaw last week closed Russia's Gdansk consulate after accusing Moscow of orchestrating an act of sabotage on a Polish rail line.
"Curtailing the Russian consular presence in Poland under an absurd pretext is a blatantly hostile and unjustified move by the Polish leadership," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.
As a "retaliation measure", Poland's ambassador was informed of Moscow's decision to "withdraw its consent for the functioning of the Polish Consulate General in Irkutsk as of December 30, 2025".
Warsaw had previously shut Russian consulates in Poznan and Krakow, while Moscow had shut Warsaw's Saint Petersburg and Kaliningrad consulates.
This will leave the main embassies in the capitals as both countries' only diplomatic missions.
Poland is the only European country to have a consulate in Irkutsk — a city near Mongolia — an outpost that helped deal with the repatriation of descendants of Polish deportees sent to Siberia under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
Poland said it foresaw the closure.
Its foreign ministry spokesperson Maciej Wewior called the decision "unfounded" as Warsaw "does not organise or support terrorism or sabotage acts in Russia".
Wewior said the consulate only had three employees and that it would function until the December 30 deadline, when its tasks would be taken over by the embassy in Moscow.
Poland — the only NATO country bordering both Russia and Ukraine — last week said it suspected two Ukrainians working for Moscow of causing damage to the Lublin–Warsaw train line.
Moscow has long accused Poland of "Russophobia."
