The Polish officials and police arrived at the school on Kielecka Street in Warsaw on Saturday morning and were soon joined by Russian embassy officials, including minister-counselor Andrey Ordash.
When one of the Polish officials demanded that the gates to the school be opened, his request was turned down. Ordash said that Russia deems the decision to seize the property illegal and warned of retaliatory diplomatic steps.
Following these remarks, special services workers, who were invited to the scene, started breaking the door of the school's gates and soon managed to get inside. After that, they padlocked the school gates to make sure the property cannot be removed.
Polish authorities ordered the staff working at the school at the Russian embassy in Warsaw to leave the building until 6 p.m. local time (16:00 GMT) on Saturday, minister-counselor Andrey Ordash told Sputnik.
"They are currently going through the premises, making an inventory of the property. School employees were told that they had to leave the building until 6 p.m.," Ordash said.
Besides the Polish authorities, only Russian diplomats were allowed to enter the premises. The Russian minister-counselor told the Polish side that individuals holding diplomatic immunity were on the school territory.
In March 2022, the Polish Foreign Ministry said that it appealed to the country’s competent authorities to start seizing two real estate objects at Sobieskiego 100 and Kielecka 45 in Warsaw, claiming that they are "not used for diplomatic and consular purposes and are illegally owned by the Russian Federation." The school at the Russian Embassy in Poland is located in the building at Kieleckiej Street 45. The building at Sobieskiego 100 was previously inhabited by Russian diplomats, but now it is unoccupied and in need of repair.