Poland: Seizes abandoned Russian ‘spy nest’ to offer it to Ukraine

“Zpiegovo” (spy nest), as the nickname of the ten-storey buildings built in the 1970s on the south side of the capital, was used in the past by Soviet diplomats and later by the Russian embassy.

Virtually empty since the 1990s, the site is now largely destroyed and is the subject of a legal dispute between Poland and Russia, with Moscow continuing to claim ownership.

The site was built as part of a land swap agreement between Poland and the Soviet Union in 1974. Following this agreement, Moscow received nine properties for rent in Warsaw. The Soviet side should have offered Poland similar territories in Moscow, but it never did.

In 2008, Warsaw terminated these agreements and demanded the return of the assets.

In 2016, a Polish court ordered Russia to hand over the buildings and pay 7.8 million zlotys (1.7 million euros) in compensation for illegal occupation, something Moscow refuses to do.

“We have taken back the so-called ‘spy nest’, we want to give it to our Ukrainian friends,” the Warsaw mayor told reporters who entered the building accompanied by a bailiff and the Ukrainian ambassador to Poland, despite protests. Russian diplomat who was present in this area.

“I am glad that in this symbolic way we can show that Warsaw is helping our Ukrainian friends,” said Rafal Trzaskovsky.

“I would like to put the Ukrainian flag here today. But we do not want to do it hard, raw, like the Russians. We are waiting for the end of the process,” Ukrainian Ambassador to Ukraine Andriy Destsicia told reporters.

“This space will serve Ukraine and the Ukrainians. Maybe there will be a school, maybe a kindergarten, maybe apartments. We want to do it legally, not like the Russians,” he added.

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ