9mo ago

Russian ambassador is a no-show after Poland summons him over a missile that entered its airspace

apnews.com Russian ambassador is a no-show after Poland summons him over a missile that entered its airspace

The Polish Foreign Ministry says the Russian ambassador to Poland did not appear for a meeting despite being summoned after a Russian missile violated Polish airspace on the weekend.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Russian ambassador to Poland did not show up Monday for a meeting at the Polish Foreign Ministry where he had been summoned because of a Russian cruise missile that violated Polish airspace on the weekend, the Polish ministry’s spokesman said.

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So, assuming that this is intentional -- and it isn't impossible that it's just some kind of screw-up -- I don't think that it's normally considered acceptable to just refuse a summons. That's not a way to express disagreement.
https://gpil.jura.uni-bonn.de/2020/07/summoning-or-inviting-an-ambassador-is-there-a-difference/
There is no obligation under international law to comply with a summons, but failure to do so may prompt the receiving State to declare the head of mission persona non grata.
And Poland is clearly hinting at that.
Paweł Wroński, the Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman, told reporters in a brief statement outside the ministry that Andreev did not come to the meeting, and that his failure to appear has led the Warsaw government to wonder “whether he is able to properly represent the interests of the Russian Federation in Warsaw.”
That being said, I don't think that the Polish Foreign Ministry has this right, if it's saying refusing a summons is a violation of the Vienna Convention:
Wroński said the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations “clearly defines the duties of an ambassador in a host state.”
EDIT: Yeah, it was intentional:
https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/03/25/russian-ambassador-ignores-polish-summons-over-missile-incident/
Andreyev himself confirmed he had not visited the ministry, saying that Poland had not provided any evidence of the missile violating Polish airspace, reports Reuters, citing Russian state news agency Novosti.
Wroński noted that the ministry would send a diplomatic note to Russia formally requesting clarification regarding the incident, which happened on Sunday morning amid the Russian bombardment of western Ukraine.
- So, assuming that he was acting under orders from the Foreign Ministry and not on his own -- which I assume is the case, given that Moscow's had enough hours to sort this out if he was just going off the rails individually -- you figure that Russia wants to have an international spat over this. I wonder what they aim to gain? Some kind of "look, NATO is being hostile" thing for the Russian public? I don't really see how Russia gains from this.
  If that's the position that Moscow has and intends to maintain this position, then declaring him persona non grata and ejecting him from Poland means that presumably Poland's going to just do a similar declaration for each new replacement ambassador who gets sent in, since it's not actually the ambassador that's the factor in question.
  Poland could totally break diplomatic relations, but I don't think that they'd say that this warrants that.
  
  You are thinking too far.
  The Russian position is "What missile? We never send a missile there! Did you see a missile? Where are the pictures of the missile? We didn't see a missile!"
  
  If that's the Russian position then it's the ambassador's duty to tell the Poles.
  
  Thats what they did. They claim Poland did not provide any evidence of any missile in polish airspace to them, therefore there is no reason for them to come. It is the "this is so wrong it does not warrant further attention" approach.
  
  If they wanna gaslight they should at least have the decency to do it in person.
  
  I'd wager they're fishing for what Poland's response will be to the missile issue, and seeing how far they can 'push it', whilst still feeling comfortable themselves.
  They already know that they aren't going to be on good terms with Poland for a long time so may just be feeling Poland out so they know what they can get away with before the incident escalates too far.
- "Serving" a diplomatic summons is basically an aggravated appointment negotiation. Nothing wrong with the summoned person having a shower and breakfast and briefing first but it's very much expected to cancel other appointments if need be, pretty much only excluding doctor's appointments and stuff. A diplomatic mission has the duty (Article 3 (1) a,c) to represent the sending state and promote friendly relations, it very much stands to reason that if the receiving state is pissed and the sending state's diplomat is not there to at least waffle and drone then they're not fulfilling their duty. You can't just snub the host.

16 comments