of Irkutsk in retaliation for Poland closing a Russian consulate over accusations of sabotage. Russia's Ukraine offensive has badly damaged ties between Warsaw and Moscow, with Poland becoming a hub for Kyiv-bound Western weapons and taking in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees.

Warsaw last week closed Russia's Gdansk consulate after accusing Moscow of orchestrating an act of sabotage on a Polish rail line. "Curtailing the Russian consular presence in Poland under an absurd pretext is a blatantly hostile and unjustified move by the Polish leadership," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement. As a "retaliation measure", Poland's ambassador was informed of Moscow's decision to "withdraw its consent for the functioning of the Polish Consulate General in Irkutsk as of December 30, 2025".

Warsaw had previously shut Russian consulates in Poznan and Krakow, while Moscow had shut Warsaw's Saint Petersburg and Kaliningrad consulates. This will leave the main embassies in the capitals as both countries' only diplomatic missions. Poland is the only European country to have a consulate in Irkutsk -- a city near Mongolia -- an outpost that helped deal with the repatriation of descendants of Polish deportees sent to Siberia under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. (Bssnews)