St. Petersburg: Russia announced on Thursday that it had closed Poland's consulate general in St. Petersburg in retaliation for Poland's decision to close the Russian consulate in Poznan. In a formal statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry declared three of the Polish consulate's diplomatic staff members "persona non grata" and stated that they would have to leave Russia by a certain date. According to Kuwait News Agency, the statement emphasized to the Polish side that Moscow has taken and will continue to take tough retaliatory measures against any unfriendly steps towards Russia. Observers believe that this escalation reflects a state of escalating diplomatic tension between the two countries in a European context fraught with geopolitical differences. These measures are part of a series of diplomatic confrontations between Moscow and Warsaw against the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis, where Poland has taken strict stances against Russia since the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
