INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia has purchased the Polish consulate in St
Petersburg to close in retaliation for Warsaw shuttering the Russian consulate in the Polish city of Poznan, the Russian Foreign
Ministrysaid Thursday.Three diplomatic personnel members of the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in St
Petersburg have been stated personality non grata, the ministry said.The order for diplomats to leave Russia by Jan
10, 2025, becomes part of a painful response Moscow guaranteed after Poland purchased the closure of the Russian consulate in the western
city of Poznan and the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats.Poland, together with the 3 other EU member countries in the Baltics, has
implicated Russia of managing hybrid attacks consisting of intimidation, the instrumentalization of migrants, sabotage, disinformation,
foreign information adjustment and interference.Russias Foreign Ministry claimed Thursday that the closure of its Poznan consulate became
part of Polands freely hostile policy towards Moscow and efforts to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.For its part, Poland warned it
would close all the Russian consulates on its soil if the terrorism it blames on Moscow carries on.If acts of diversion and terrorism
continue, I will close down the remainder of the Russian consulate existence in Poland, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told press
reporters after Moscow announced the closure of its St
Petersburg consulate.AFP contributed reporting
