The Russian ambassador to Poland was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Thursday. He was handed a formal note. The message was simple. Forty-five people he claimed were diplomats were, in Warsaw’s view, intelligence officers. They have five days to leave. One of them has just 48 hours.
Poland’s Internal Security Agency identified the 45 as spies. They were using diplomatic status as cover. The decision came three weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine. It is one of the largest expulsions of foreign diplomatic staff in Polish history.
Stanislaw Zaryn, the state security spokesman, confirmed the nature of their work. These individuals were conducting intelligence operations against Poland. They were gathering sensitive information. They were, in the government’s assessment, undermining national stability. The security apparatus had been watching them. The invasion of Ukraine was the breaking point.
The expelled individuals are not all leaving at once. The Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lukasz Jasina, laid out the timeline. Forty-four of them have five days to pack and go. One person was singled out. That individual must leave within 48 hours. Jasina did not specify why the threat was graver in that single case. He did not need to. The message was clear: some threats are more immediate than others.
Russia’s ambassador, Sergei Andreev, was not among those expelled. He responded with the standard diplomatic script. The targeted employees were engaged in normal activities, he said. Trade and diplomacy. Nothing more. He warned that Moscow would respond in kind. Reciprocity is the rule in these matters. If Poland expels 45, Russia will find 45 to expel from its own mission in Moscow.
The context matters. Poland is now the primary transit point for refugees fleeing Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands have crossed the border. Warsaw is preparing to host them. The security apparatus is stretched. The presence of Russian intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover became an unacceptable risk.
Jasina framed the expulsions in stark terms. Russia, he said, is waging a barbaric war against Ukraine. Poland and other Western nations are treated as key enemies. The expulsions are a response to that reality. They are not a diplomatic spat. They are a security measure.
This is not the first time Poland has expelled Russian diplomats. But the scale is different. Forty-five is a large number. It signals a shift. The old rules of diplomatic engagement have been suspended. The invasion changed the calculation. Trust is gone.
The 45 will leave. Some will go to Moscow. Others may be reassigned. The Russian embassy in Warsaw will be thinner. The intelligence operation will be disrupted, at least temporarily. But the fundamental problem remains. Russia will send new people. The game will continue. Poland’s security services know this. The expulsions buy time. They do not buy safety.
