Poland says,

The Foreign Minister of Poland says his country has evidence that Russia has appointed people in the Telegram messaging service to carry out last year’s massive fire at the Warsaw Shopping Center.

Speaking to the BBC in an exclusive interview, Radek Sikorski said Moscow’s actions were “completely unacceptable” and that the second Russian consulate in Poland was closed as a result.

His comments come after a The Polish investigation concluded that the Marywilska Mall Fire was organized by Moscow’s intelligence servicesS

Russia has denied its participation, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accusing Poland of being Russophobic.

The May 2024 fire destroyed 1,400 small businesses, with many staff belonging to the Vietnamese community of Warsaw.

“We have evidence that they have ordered the people who live in Poland, they ordered them on Telegram and paid them to set this huge shopping center,” Sikorski said on Monday.

“With a miracle that no one was hurt, but it’s completely unacceptable.”

The Foreign Minister told the BBC that he had decided that Russia’s presence in Poland should be “further restricted” and that the Russia Consulate in Krakow was already closed to try to make it difficult for Moscow to “spy” to Poland.

“We will make additional decisions if these hybrid attacks continue,” Sikorski said.

A hybrid war is a term used to describe how a hostile state performs an anonymous, delayed attack, usually in highly suspicious circumstances.

This will be enough to harm their opponent, especially their infrastructure assets, but stop being an actual act of war.

Only one consulate now remains open to Poland, along with the Embassy. The mission in Poznan was closed last year after Warsaw accused Russia of sabotage and cybervoy acts.

Asked on Monday why Poland not only torn all the diplomatic ties, Sikor replied: “I hope it doesn’t reach it.”

In response to the closure of the Consulate of Krakow, Peskov said: “All these accusations are absolutely groundless, unfounded.

“There are many different accusations against Russia to be expressed in Poland. This part is absolutely Russophobic and unfriendly to our country.”

He added: “As for the reduction of Russia’s diplomatic presence in Poland, these are an integral part of a common chain aimed at limiting the already deplorable state of bilateral relations. Poland chooses hostility and dislike for us.”

Following a full -scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine in 2022, Poland detained and condemned several people accused of sabotage on behalf of Russian intelligence services.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova told the state media: “Warsaw continues to deliberately destroy relations by acting against the interests of citizens.”

Poland conducted a one -year investigation into the incident with the mall before concluding that the fire was organized by an unnamed man in Russia.

Poland Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday that some of those responsible are already in custody, while everyone else who is alleged to have been involved have been identified and sought.

Many workers have lost important documents and large sums of money in the fire that have been kept in the mall for fear of breakthroughs at home.

Another shopping center in Warsaw, Modlinska 6D, opened in October last year, with traders moving their business to the new site.