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Poland Shuts Last Russian Consulate, Blames Moscow for Railway Sabotage

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Poland announced on Wednesday that it will close Russia’s last remaining consulate on its territory, escalating its response to a railway explosion that Warsaw has blamed on Moscow. The blast, which occurred over the weekend on the Warsaw-Lublin line leading to the Ukrainian border, was allegedly carried out by two Ukrainians working with Russian intelligence. Polish authorities say the suspects fled to Belarus, a close ally of Russia.

Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the closure of the Russian consulate in Gdansk is the first step, following earlier closures of Russian consulates in Krakow and Poznan in response to similar sabotage concerns. Calling the railway incident “an act of state terrorism,” Sikorski added that Poland would also pursue non-diplomatic measures. Moscow, which denies any involvement, accused Poland of “Russophobia” and indicated it would restrict Poland’s diplomatic presence in Russia.

Warsaw is now urging its EU partners to curb the movement of Russian diplomats within the Schengen zone, warning that further actions may follow. Poland and other EU states have repeatedly accused Russia and Belarus of destabilizing the region, including by fueling migration at the borders. Polish intelligence officials say several additional people have been detained in connection with the blast, amid a wider surge in sabotage, arson and cyberattacks across Europe since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

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Croatia begins new euro and Schengen zone era

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Croatia is beginning on a momentous year, joining the border-free Schengen zone and abandoning its own currency, the kuna, in favour of the euro. When it became the EU’s newest member in 2013, the country pledged to entering the eurozone.

Nationalist parties wanted to maintain the kuna, but the constitutional court overturned them. It is the 27th country to join the Schengen area, which permits 400 million people to freely travel between countries.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, praised the moves as “two enormous milestones” for the EU’s youngest member state.

She claimed 1 January – when the reforms formally happened – will be a day “for the history books”.

Above all, this would be a time of “pleasure and pride for the Croatian people,” she declared. “It is proof of your incredible journey, hard work, and determination.”

Croatia’s Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, said on Sunday that the two historic amendments had “achieved its strategic, state, and political aims” for the country, a former Yugoslav republic that waged an independence war in the 1990s.

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