Hundreds of Poles came to the Russian Embassy in Warsaw in March 2005 in the wake of the assassination of Chechen Aslan Maskhadov to make an “obwieszczenie” (warning) for Russian President Putin that Polish-Russian may sharply deteriorate
Photo: AP
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Polish Embassy’s 2nd Casualty
// One more diplomat was beaten in Moscow
Friendship of Nations
Second secretary of the Polish Embassy to Russia was severely beaten in central Moscow yesterday. The Polish Foreign Ministry immediately handed Vladimir Sedykh, Russia's temporary charge d’affaires to Warsaw, a note of protest demanding that the culprits be found, brought to justice and punished. This is the second attack on an embassy employee in the Russian capital for less than a week, which questions the domestic nature of the crime. It looks more like retaliation for the recent attack on Russian diplomats’ children in Warsaw.
Double Precedent
The Moscow police learnt about the assault on the Polish diplomat from the embassy’s employees. “An officer of the security service of the Polish Embassy called at 1.30 p.m. at the police station of the 15th detachment of the Chief Interior Department [the squad that guards embassies of NATO-countries] and said that Marek Reszuta, 35, the embassy’s second secretary, had been beaten by unknown people. The investigation team of the Interior Department of Moscow’s Central District was immediately sent to the scene,” Evgeny Gildeev, deputy head of the press service of the Moscow police, reported to Kommersant. Employees at the embassy (the victim was already at the Botkin hospital at that moment) said the man had been attacked at about 1 o’clock in the afternoon on Tishinskaya square by Sedmoy Kontinent shop. The diplomat was going back from the shop to the embassy on Klimashkin street, which is about a five-minute walk. An unidentified man drew upon the Pole and knocked him down. Afterwards, the attacker kicked the lying diplomat several times and ran away.
A few hours later, Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka instructed Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld to find out the details of the Moscow attack on the Polish diplomat. Russian charge d’affaires in Poland Vladimir Sedykh was later summoned to the Polish Foreign Ministry to be presented with a note of protest. The document holds a demand for Russia to find the guilty, bring them to justice and punish in the compliance with the law.
Acting Prosecutor of Moscow’s Presnya district Vladimir Dorenko initiated a criminal case on the attack on Mr. Reszuta yesterday by 115 article of the Russian Criminal Code (Deliberate Infliction of Light Injuries). The diplomat was diagnosed with a chest concussion. The probe into the criminal case, as well as the inquiry into the beating of another Polish embassy employee Andrzej Uriadko on August 7, was entrusted on the investigation team of Presnensky Interior Department. “The crimes are being probed into by a united staff including forces of the Interior Department and best detectives of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Office. But the investigative work is much hindered without any real help from the sufferers,” Evgeny Gildeev said.
He claims Mr. Uriadko told police officers at the questioning that he had “drunk strong alcohol drinks” on August 6, a day before the assault, therefore he could not remember the attackers and rejected giving their composite pictures. Mr. Uriadko declined to identify by photos four suspects detained by the police who had to be released. On another note, Evgeny Gildeev said the victim is still at the Botkin hospital not because of the injuries he got in the assault but “due to the course of treatment for chronic maxillary sinusitis”. As for Mr. Reszut, another victim, detectives of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Office were not allowed to visit him at request of the Polish Embassy. Thus the Poles did not let the investigators a chance to “get true information on the details of the incident and the description of the criminal”. Evgeny Gildeev believes, though, that “the both attacks will be solved and the culprits will receive the appropriate punishment”.
Anticipating the Third
The second attack on a Polish embassy employee in central Moscow in the last week makes the crime seem no accidental. The first incident could have been attributed to the emotional reaction of sensitive Russians after the beating of children of Russian diplomats in Warsaw. According to an official theory, the Pole was first struck after he asked in Polish to give a light. What is more, Russian mass media widely reported on the situation in the Polish capital, and even Vladimir Putin made an official statement calling the incident an unfriendly act and a crime. The second assault on a Polish embassy employee suggests a certain trend that reflects recent changes in the Russian-Polish relations.
Moscow and Warsaw’s relations went downhill right after the victory of Ukrainian Orange Revolutions. Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski outdid his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin rallying the West to back up Viktor Yushchenko. Russia’s protégé Viktor Yanukovich never became president. The Kremlin was huffy about Poland’s victory in the Ukrainian front. The two presidents engaged into direct personalities against each other. The situation became all the more bad after March’s elimination of Chechen militants’ leader Aslan Maskhadov in Chechnya, which the Polish authorities called a mistake. Moscow nearly accused Warsaw of the support of terrorism. A new exciter was added to some existing ones. Moscow was displeased at Warsaw’s eagerness to export the Ukrainian Orange Revolution to Belarus. But it is the territory of the united state. Almost Russia.
The two countries have developed harsh laws in the system of their diplomatic relations over many centuries. For instance, in case of the renvoi of a diplomatic representative of one of the two states, a similar move would follow. The mechanism sticks to a principle of an adequate answer. When in 1971 the UK expelled 105 Soviet diplomats, just the same number of employees at the British embassy had to leave the USSR. These are the rules of the game.
The same principle of “mutual counts” is, perhaps, now at work in the Russia-Polish scandal. The fact that two Poles were beaten up in response to the attack on the Russian teenagers in Warsaw must be proving Russia’s decision to count the victims. Russia had three victims, the Polish party – two so far.
The Moscow police allocated new forces to guard the Polish embassy, which is already closely guarded, it became known yesterday. “Two policemen normally guard the embassy. After the first attack, five officers were sent to be on duty around the compound in daytime four – at night. Now there will be one auto patrol and three pedestrian squads in the area of the embassy,” Evgeny Gildeev reported. The Polish Embassy to Moscow has virtually gone into the state of siege. Polish Ambassador Stefan Meler prohibited at yesterday’s special session the diplomatic missions’ employees leaving the compound alone and without an absolute necessity.
Alexander Zheglov, Alexander Reutov, Vladimir Vodo
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 11, 2005
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