Poland's government has asked Moscow to explain why Russia has refused entry to the head of Poland's Institute of international affairs, the Polish Foreign Ministry said on May 29.
Slawomir Debski was told by border guards at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport on May 29 that his visa had been canceled and that he was banned from entering Russia until March 2021, Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Artur Lompart said. The political scientist was later put on a flight to Germany.
Debski was due to attend a conference organized by Russia's Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations.
Following the incident, Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergei Andreyev was summoned to the Polish Foreign Ministry, where Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Papierz handed him a diplomatic note asking for an explanation of the incident, Lompart said.
Andreyev told Russian news agency Ria-Novosti that the refusal to allow Debski in the country came in reaction to similar moves by Poland in late 2017 and early 2018 against Russian political scientists Oleg Bondarenko and Aleksei Martynov.
Earlier in May, the Polish intelligence agency ABW said it had uncovered a plan to sow tensions between Poland and neighboring Ukraine and lead an "informational war…against Poland and in the interests of Russia."
At the time, ABW said a Russian citizen was expelled by Warsaw, and that four others suspected of similar activities were banned from entering Poland.
