Russia closes Polish consulate in St. Petersburg. Sikorski: noted with dignified indifference

According to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this decision was made "in response to the closure of the Russian Consulate General in Poznań by Polish authorities on November 30." Three Polish diplomats have been deemed undesirable in Russia and must now leave the country.

During a meeting with journalists in Malta, Sikorski, commenting on Russia's response to the closure of its consulate in Poznań, said: "We accept this Russian decision with dignified indifference because we expected it."

He added: "In reality, Russia has no right to retaliate, as the closure of the consulate in Poznań was caused by acts of sabotage in Poland and allied countries. These acts of sabotage are crimes that, thanks to fortunate circumstances, have not yet resulted in casualties. But Russia, as we all know, is what it is."

On Thursday, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski stated in Malta that Russia's membership in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) should be suspended.

On Thursday, Sikorski was attending the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting, where Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was also present.

Sikorski emphasized that the current 31st OSCE Ministerial Council meeting coincided with the anniversary of the signing of the Budapest Memorandum (the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances of 1994), which had provided Ukraine with security guarantees and territorial integrity in exchange for giving up its vast nuclear arsenal.

"These guarantees from Russia were brutally violated. Russia invaded Ukraine, continues to occupy it, and escalates ways of destroying Ukraine, including conducting attacks that could lead to a nuclear accident involving Ukrainian nuclear power plants," Sikorski stated.

The minister noted: "The entire West tried to encourage Russia to become a normal, democratic nation-state. It was Russia that chose the path of aggressive, repressive kleptocracy."

Sikorski further stated: "In my speech, I told the Russian delegation that we will not be deceived by the cascade of lies we heard once again from its representatives. We know what they are doing; they are trying to rebuild the Russian empire, and we will not accept this, we will resist, just as we did in the past."

"Russia is destroying Ukraine, but it is also destroying the future of its own country. Until it ends this brutal war, its membership in the OSCE should be suspended," Sikorski concluded.

Sikorski, who left the room during Lavrov's speech, pointed out that he saw a number of other delegations doing the same.