Poland has blocked the Russian Embassy's bank accounts under the pretext of 'terrorism financing,' according to the Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergei Andreyev.
The envoy to Poland, appearing on Russian television, said that the accounts had been frozen since the end of February, in a step by the Polish authorities that violates the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
"Moreover, in a curious detail, the accounts were blocked originally by a decision of the Ministry of Finance, and only later by the decision of the Polish prosecutor on the grounds that our accounts could allegedly be used to launder illegally obtained funds or to finance terrorism," said the ambassador on Russia’s Channel One.
“It is probably clear to any sane person that the accusations regarding diplomatic representation are more than absurd, not to mention the fact that there is a direct and blatant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” Andreev added.
This comes after the previous day Poland announced it was expelling 45 Russian diplomats over alleged espionage. Sergey Andreyev slammed the decision as unfounded.
"I received a note about the expulsion of 45 of our employees due to activities that are not in accordance with the Vienna Convention," Andreyev told reporters on Wednesday.
Furthermore, Poland does not rule out the expulsion of Russian Ambassador to Warsaw Sergey Andreyev, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said on Thursday, noting that the decision has not been made yet.
"This [the expulsion of the ambassador] is not excluded in the future. At this stage, there is no such decision. It is possible that it will be adopted in the future," Przydacz told the RMF FM radio station.
After Warsaw ordered 45 Russian diplomats out of the country, Moscow pledged to respond to the move, while Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman, told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster that the number of diplomats Poland wants to expel is "unprecedented."
"To be honest, we don’t even understand where such a figure came from, given that it is somewhat more similar to what we understand, the quantitative indicator of the diplomatic staff," Zakharova said, adding that just over 50 diplomats work in the Russian embassy in Warsaw.
Poland's move came as part of the swathe of sanctions that Washington, its European and NATO allies have targeted at Russiaover its special operation to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine after the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) appealed for help in defending themselves against continued attacks from Kiev forces.
Moscow has reiterated that the aim of its special operation is to exclusively target military infrastructure, with the Kremlin having no plans to occupy Ukraine.
However, in response to what has been labelled “an invasion”, the US and its allies have been funneling military assistance to Ukraine and unleashing a sanctions campaign, fallout from which has already been felt by the West itself.