Russia announced in mid-July that the Polish mission would cease operations on August 29, calling it a reciprocal step.
Poland’s foreign ministry confirmed on Friday that the Consulate General in Kaliningrad had ended its work.
On August 26, Consul Janusz Jabłoński handed over the Polish emblem, consular plaque and national and EU flags to Poland’s ambassador to Russia, Krzysztof Krajewski, the ministry said in a statement.
Krajewski expressed regret over what he called Russia’s unjustified decision and voiced hope that Poland’s presence in Kaliningrad would one day be restored, according to the statement.
Poland still operates an embassy in Moscow and a consulate in Irkutsk in Russia's far east.
Russia maintains its embassy in Warsaw and one consulate in the northern port city of Gdańsk.
Polish authorities ordered the closure of Russia’s Kraków consulate in July after what Prime Minister Donald Tusk described as an arson attack on a Warsaw shopping centre orchestrated by Russian security services.
Last year, Poland also shut down Russia’s consulate in Poznań in response to suspected sabotage attacks linked to Moscow.
Tensions between the two countries have escalated sharply since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Kaliningrad, known historically as Königsberg and later Królewiec under Polish rule, was renamed after Soviet politician Mikhail Kalinin following World War II.
In 2023, Poland decided to call the city Królewiec in its official documents, citing Kalinin’s connection to the 1940 Katyn Massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police.
Poland in 2023 began officially referring to the city as Królewiec, citing Kalinin’s connection to the 1940 Katyn Massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police.
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Source: IAR, gov.pl