The essence of Russian diplomacy is well illustrated by a story that goes back nearly twenty years. In October 2004, Nikolai Lebedev, head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVZ) (a former West Berlin intelligence officer, among others) presented the SVZ Veteran’s Medal to the former head of the service and its former director. Yevgeny Primakov. At that time, the creator of the post-Soviet KGB Primakov (and later the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1996-1998) jokedAnd That the Russian Foreign Ministry is not just intelligence. Standing beside him was Sergey Lavrov, who had just been appointed head of diplomacy, smiling.
During Soviet times, every Soviet embassy had a so-called “legal residence” headed by a man (with a diplomatic passport) who coordinated intelligence activities in the country. His deputy could be responsible, for example, for working with “illegals” (mostly foreigners who had nothing to do with Russia) working for the KGB. In addition, the “residence” had a department of clerks and communications specialists. The employees in this department practically never go out because they have so much knowledge. In addition, the main “resident” coordinated the work of intelligence officers posing as diplomats and employees associated with the locations embassy. Unlike the “illegals” who, for example, were sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States (some have been imprisoned since the times of the USSR), the embassy diplomat claimed immunity and could only be expelled. Has much changed in the work of Russian embassies since then? The aggression on the Dnieper, which has been going on for more than one year, shows that little has changed in Russia for decades.
So it is not difficult to guess the value of the Russian Embassy in Warsaw for the Kremlin. Considering that the lion’s share of Western military, financial and humanitarian support reaches the Dnieper through our country, Poland is no less important for Russian intelligence than Germany, Great Britain or the United States. Therefore, it is not worth expecting far-reaching reactions from Moscow to the confiscation of funds of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Poland by the Prosecutor General’s Office. BThey’ll only carry cash in bags if they stay here and don’t lose their spot. Far more than Poland, they are not interested in escalating and expelling diplomats.
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One should expect Russian retaliation in connection with the seizure by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the funds of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Poland. But at the same time, you should not be afraid of them.
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