ISTANBUL

Russia on Tuesday lodged a protest with Poland over the seizure of its embassy school in the Polish capital of Warsaw by local police last Saturday, according to media reports.

The Russian Embassy in Poland has “sent a note of protest to the Polish Foreign Ministry," according to the state news agency TASS.

Last Saturday, Polish police broke open the doors of the Russian Embassy school in Warsaw, blocked the exits, and gave people until 7 p.m. local time (1700GMT) to leave the campus.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Poland's "hostile actions" are a "blatant violation" of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and an encroachment on Russian diplomatic property.

In a separate statement on Telegram, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the Polish authorities’ actions as “provocation,” adding that Moscow will give a tough response to the seizure in the coming days.

Ties between Moscow and Warsaw, one of Kyiv’s staunchest allies, have further deteriorated since the war in Ukraine started in February 2022.