45 Russian Diplomats Expelled From Poland As Putin Flops

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Poland is expelling 45 individuals who’d been working as part of Russia’s diplomatic presence in the country amid the global push to cut off relations with the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the unfolding violence in Ukraine, where Putin’s forces recently invaded. According to Reuters, the 45 individuals who’ve been ordered to imminently leave Poland are believed to harbor ties to Russian intelligence operations. Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Lukasz Jasina explained that “in total, 45 people with varying diplomatic status… were ordered to leave the territory of the Republic of Poland within 5 days… Russia is our neighbour, it will not disappear from the map of Europe, but the aggression towards Ukraine proves that it is an unfriendly state, and even hostile to Poland.”

One of those affected by Poland’s decision had apparently been given just 48 hours to leave the country. Apparently, the orders to leave do not affect everyone involved with Russian embassy operations in Poland. Predictably, Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreev has contested the allegations made against these 45 individuals, although he admitted that “they will have to go. This is a sovereign decision by the Polish side and they have the right to their own decision.” Poland — a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) — has been firmly on the side of Ukraine amid its ongoing war with Russia; many of the overall millions of Ukrainian refugees who’ve fled the country during the fighting entered Poland, which is also a member of the European Union. As recently explained by Reuters, the European Union has ‘granted “temporary protection” to people who were permanent residents of Ukraine, giving them such things as rights to residency, access to the labour market, social welfare and medical care.’

Providing what seems like a reasonable preview of what will be the global stance after the war in Ukraine eventually ends, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently said that “to try to re-normalize relations with Putin after this, as we did in 2014, would be to make exactly the same mistake again.” The Russian regime has been largely cut off from its international ties — foreign currency reserves held by Russia’s central bank have been sharply restricted, wealthy individuals with ties to Putin have been sanctioned, cancellations were announced of the most favored nation trade status designations that allowed for relatively free trade between Russia and certain other countries, and Russian aircraft have even been banned from traveling through numerous countries’ airspace.

Apparently, Poland has also pushed for expelling Russia from the G20 group of nations, which constitutes “a key international platform for coordinating everything from climate change action to cross-border debt,” as recently explained by Reuters. Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan responded to questioning on whether the president would push for the elimination of Russia’s membership in the group by asserting that Biden administration officials believe “that it cannot be business as usual for Russia in international institutions and in the international community.” The exact form that takes in this context remains to be seen. In the meantime, devastation across Ukraine is continuing — Russian invaders there have been revealed to have apparently used phosphorous munitions, which can severely burn victims.