Poland hands over a Russian spy nest to the Ukrainians. Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski on Monday said a fenced compound once used by Russia and now apparently empty had been seized.
Trzaskowski said the property would be made available to the Ukrainian community, to possibly house refugees taken in by Poland in the wake of Russia’s invasion.
The compound was built in a land-swap agreement between Poland and the Soviet Union in 1974.
Though Moscow received nine new properties in Warsaw, the Soviet side never reciprocated, and the buildings became empty in the 1990s.
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The apartment buildings, built by Russia in the 1970s, had been at the centre of a dispute with Moscow that lasted decades.
Trzaskowski said the compound had been recovered after being “unlawfully occupied by the Russians.” He said the process had been given added urgency after Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
What did the Warsaw mayor say?
“It is extremely symbolic that we are closing this long process now, in the age of Russian aggression,” Trzaskowski tweeted.
“We’ve taken back the so-called spy nest and want to hand it over to our Ukrainian guests,” the mayor told reporters, using a Polish nickname — “Szpiegowo” — for the site.
“I’m glad that in such a symbolic way we can show that Warsaw is helping our Ukrainian friends,” he added.
Trzaskowski had himself entered the premises with a bailiff and the Ukrainian ambassador to Poland. A Russian diplomat was also at the scene to protest the move.
The Warsaw mayor posted pictures of the interior, saying it had been stripped bare.
Russian Ambassador protests seizure
Russia’s ambassador to Poland, Sergey Andreyev, accused the Polish authorities of seizing Russian diplomatic property whilst denying it was a Russian spy nest.
“This morning, bailiffs came to our diplomatic property at 100 Sobieskiego Street in Warsaw and ordered the transfer of the building to the Polish State Treasury on behalf of Warsaw City Hall,” Andreyev was quoted as saying by Russia’s RIA news agency.
“Polish representatives cut off the locks to the gate and … have essentially occupied the facility,” Andreyev said.
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