Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski rejected what he called “Russia’s threats against civilian sites, including government buildings and diplomatic missions,” as “unacceptable.”
“We do not accept such blackmail and intimidation,” Sikorski told broadcaster Polsat News, in reference to Moscow’s warnings to foreign missions to leave Kyiv, reported Polish Radio.
Poland’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Maciej Wewiór said Russian Ambassador Georgy Mikhno was summoned to the ministry on on May 26 to receive Warsaw’s protest. Sikorski said the Russian diplomat was told that “threatening obviously civilian targets, such as government buildings or diplomatic missions, is unacceptable.” Sikorski added: “If our embassy suffers damage, as it has in the past, we will regard that as a deliberate and intentional decision.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Wewiór said Poland coordinated its response with European partners, several of whom also summoned Russian diplomats over the warnings. Germany’s Foreign Ministry said on May 26 that it had summoned Russia’s ambassador following Moscow’s appeal for Western diplomatic missions to leave Kyiv. European Commission spokeswoman Anitta Hipper said the European Union had also summoned Russia’s chargé d’affaires over the threats and had no plans to withdraw its diplomatic mission from Kyiv.
