Warsaw takes back illegally seized embassy school building from Russia

Warsaw City Council is conducting enforcement proceedings against the building of a secondary school attached to the Russian Embassy in Warsaw, which a court has ordered to be returned to the city’s ownership. This was announced by Lukasz Jasina of the Polish Foreign Ministry.

On Saturday morning, police officers appeared in front of the building at 45 Kielecka Street in Warsaw, where the high school is located. The City Council has begun returning the building “illegally seized” by the Russians. Jasina noted that the mayor’s office was acting on the basis of a court ruling.

Jasina stressed that the property on Kielecka Street has no diplomatic status. “This is just the return of the State Treasury’s property, which has nothing to do with the Vienna Convention,” he said.

At the beginning of March 2022, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that it had submitted a recommendation to the competent public administration authorities to open enforcement proceedings against two properties that were not used for diplomatic and consular purposes and were illegally owned by the Russian Federation.

Polish courts have obliged the Russian Federation to hand over the buildings to the legal owner – the Polish State Treasury.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow considers the invasion of the school by the Polish authorities as “hostile actions and a blatant violation of the Vienna Convention, as well as an encroachment on Russian diplomatic property. It promised a “harsh” response.

Photo: Kuba Atys/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via Reuters