Poland apologizes for Russian Embassy attack

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski has apologized for an attack on the Russian Embassy in Warsaw during an event on Poland’s Independence Day.

On November 11, some right-wing nationalists threw firecrackers and objects toward the Russian Embassy building in the Polish capital, prompting police to use rubber bullets to disperse them.

“This is an absolutely scandalous event that took place at the Russian embassy. It cannot be excused with anything. One can only deeply apologize,” President Komorowski stated on Wednesday.

On November 12, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Polish Ambassador to Moscow Wojciech Zajaczkowsi to demand an apology for the incident.

“We demand that the Polish authorities offer an official apology, take exhaustive measures to maintain security and facilitate the normal operations of all of Russia’s diplomatic missions in Poland, compensate for the damage caused, punish those guilty and prevent similar provocations in the future,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement described the November 11 attack as “a very serious violation by Poland’s authorities of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.”

“The ambassador’s attention was drawn to the passive and belated response given by the [Polish] police, a circumstance which made these riots by young roughnecks possible to a large extent,” the ministry added.

Polish authorities said they had arrested 72 nationalists linked to the incident.

On Wednesday, Russian protesters threw firecrackers at the Polish Embassy in Moscow in a tit-for-tat move.

“Poland is demanding detailed explanations from the Russian side on this matter,” the Polish Foreign Ministry said.

Russian police arrested three men after the attack, which according to the opposition group, Other Russia, was meant as a response to the attack in Warsaw.

Poland has been engaged in trade and security disputes with Russia and pursued close integration with the West since the end of Communist rule in 1989. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and became a NATO member in 1999.