Poland Defends Its Right to Consulate Building in Russia
Source: ABC / AP
Poland opposes as unlawful a Russian court's order to vacate the country's consulate building in St. Petersburg.
Tension is growing between Poland and Russia over Moscow's role in the conflict in Ukraine. The eviction order also calls for Poland to pay $1 million in rent.
The Polish Embassy in Moscow said Wednesday that diplomatic premises have immunity. Poland and Russia are in negotiations concerning the status of diplomatic buildings in each other's territory. The embassy said until these issues are resolved, the consulate can't be the subject of any court order.
Russia is using a number of diplomatic-status buildings in Poland rent-free. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement says Poland "has rejected our offers to discuss a complex of outstanding issues concerning Russian property in Poland and Polish property in Russia."
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/poland-defends-consulate-building-russia-28722975
More of Putin's petty payback for not getting invited to Auschwitz.
iandhr
(6,852 posts)E.G. The German embassy in Washington is German soil. The American embassy in London is American soil.
MADem
(135,425 posts)precise direction. He's a dictator, and this is the kind of crazy thing that petty, personal, and egomaniacal dictators do.
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)If the judges knew what was good for their health, the made the only decision they could.
Those who cross Putin have a way of landing in the slammer on charges of treason, espionage or corruption. Either that or the leave the country and worry about their lunch being radioactive.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Xithras
(16,191 posts)Some nations may choose to extend extraterritoriality to foreign embassies on their soil, and some countries may require that the host country offer them extraterritoriality in exchange for setting up an embassy, but there's no requirement for it outside of those private agreements. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations actually states that embassies operate under the laws of their host countries (the nation they are located in), but simply prohibits the host country from entering or searching the embassy without permission. It also extends the same protections to the homes of the diplomats. This may create a de facto form of extraterritoriality (as in, the Russians can't enforce Russian law on the soil of foreign embassies), but the embassy doesn't actually become "foreign soil".
The host country also does retain the right to close an embassy or consulate at any time. There is nothing stopping the United States from informing Russia that its embassy will no longer be granted the status of a diplomatic mission, and will not be covered under the Vienna Convention. The files and contents of the building would retain their protected status as long as they were controlled by a diplomat, but the building itself would no longer be immune to entry. The Russian's would then have to decide whether to continue operating in the building without diplomatic protections, or whether to close the office and pull out.