Poland’s Ambassador to Russia, Krzysztof Krajewski, was attacked in St. Petersburg by a group protesting Polish support for Ukraine, it was reported on Thursday.
Krajewski, who has served as ambassador since 2021, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that he was confronted by a “group of so-called activists” while walking along Nevsky Prospect, the city’s main boulevard.
He had been en route on Sunday to the Catholic Church of St Catherine for a Polish-language service to mark Poland’s Independence Day, when the attack took place.
The incident occurred on the same day as an attack on a railway line in Poland linking Warsaw to the border with Ukraine, which Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said was orchestrated by Russian intelligence in an “unprecedented act of sabotage.”
In response to the blasts, Poland vowed to close Russia’s last remaining consulate in the country, located in Gdansk. Russian consulates in Krakow and Poznan had already been shuttered after past sabotage attempts linked to Moscow.
Krajewski said of the incident in St Petersburg: “As I was walking down the main street, Nevsky Prospekt, a group of so-called activists, well organized and led by people from outside the group, verbally attacked me, shouting anti-Polish and anti-Ukrainian slogans, and attempted to physically attack me.”
It came after the Gazeta Wyborcza daily newspaper reported earlier on Thursday that the ambassador had been encircled by “an aggressive group of protesters carrying banners with anti-Polish and anti-Ukrainian slogans.”
According to the outlet, several individuals tried to hit Krajewski before officers from the Polish State Protection Service intervened.
According to exiled Russian news outlet Agentstvo, two of the men seen in videos of the incident are activists with Volunteer Company, a group tied to the youth wing of the ruling United Russia party, an organization which has previously received state grants.
“It was the most serious incident of its kind in many years,” an unnamed foreign ministry source told Gazeta Wyborcza. “Only the intervention of security guards prevented the ambassador from being beaten.”
Meanwhile, a Foreign Ministry spokesman told private broadcaster TVN: “An aggressive group with banners… wanted to move from verbal assault to physical assault, but were stopped by the State Protection Service.”
“On Wednesday, during a meeting with the Russian chargé d’affaire, the Polish side expressed its outrage. In response, we were told that such situations ‘should not occur’.”
“The attack on the Polish ambassador in Russia is not only a diplomatic scandal but also a violation of international law,” Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
Kosiniak-Kamysz went on to describe the perpetrators as “trained, hand-picked individuals” whose objective was provocation, adding: “We will demand full compliance with international law, respect for diplomatic rules and the safety of Polish diplomatic representatives.”
Kosiniak-Kamysz said the incident shows that Moscow has no interest in easing tensions with Warsaw.
Russian media outlets had previously circulated video of several young men hounding the ambassador, berating him for being a “terrorist” and displaying banners accusing Poland of fueling the war in Ukraine.
The Czech Foreign Minister, Jan Lipavsky, condemned the attack on Krajewski on Thursday evening and said that he had “demanded” that Russia ensure the safety of foreign diplomatic missions on its territory.
Also on Thursday, Polish prosecutors said they had drafted charges against two Ukrainian men accused of carrying out the sabotage attacks on the rail network over the weekend on behalf of Russia, confirming that they had fled to Belarus.