Polish envoy faces verbal, physical threats in Russia's St. Petersburg

Polish Ambassador to Russia Krzysztof Krajewski was subjected to a tense and unsettling incident in St. Petersburg on November 16.

According to RMF24, citing Gazeta Wyborcza, A group of so-called “activists” confronted the ambassador despite the presence of his security detail. The altercation began with verbal harassment and escalated into an attempted physical assault, which was successfully prevented by his protection team, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

A spokesperson for the Polish Foreign Ministry, Maciej Wewiór, confirmed that the ambassador avoided serious injury.

Ambassador Krzysztof Krajewski traveled to St. Petersburg to meet with the local Polish community as part of Poland’s Independence Day commemorations. The program included a service at the Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, located on Nevsky Prospect, the city’s main thoroughfare.

As the ambassador entered the church, he was confronted by a group of Russians who shouted slogans targeting Poland and Ukraine and directed verbal abuse at him.

Wewiór noted that during a meeting with the Russian chargé d’affaires the previous day, the Polish MFA formally lodged a protest over the incident, to which the Russian side acknowledged that such occurrences should not take place.

During the same meeting, Poland delivered a diplomatic note revoking permission for the operation of its consulate in Gdańsk. This decision comes in response to recent acts of railway sabotage: on November 15, an explosive device destroyed a railway track in Mika (Masovian Voivodeship, Garwolin County), and on November 16, a train carrying 475 passengers was forced to brake abruptly near Gołąb station (Puławy County, Lublin Voivodeship) due to damage on the line.

On November 18, Prime Minister Donald Tusk informed the Sejm that the suspects behind these attacks are Ukrainian nationals acting in coordination with Russian intelligence. The individuals have been identified as Yevheniy Ivanov and Oleksandr Kononov, who reportedly fled to Belarus after executing the operations under the direction of Russian services.

By Vafa Guliyeva