The authorities in Gdańsk have filed a lawsuit against the Russian Federation seeking the transfer of the former Russian consulate general building to the Polish state. The claim was submitted in June and is being heard by the Gdańsk Regional Court.
The plaintiff in the case is the State Treasury of Poland, represented by the mayor of Gdańsk. The property in question is located at 15 Batorego Street and has been used by Russian diplomats since the middle of the last century.
“The court has currently approached the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a request to take steps to serve a copy of the statement of claim on the Russian Federation,” said Łukasz Zioła, a spokesman for civil cases at the Gdańsk Regional Court, as quoted by Radio Gdańsk.
The proceedings have not yet begun on the merits
According to the court spokesman, the next procedural steps will be possible only after the statement of claim has been served on the Russian side and it submits a response. If Moscow does not respond within the specified period, the proceedings may continue even after it has expired.
Separately from the case filed by the Gdańsk authorities, Poland’s Prosecutor General’s Office also filed a lawsuit in June demanding that the building be handed over to the state. According to the Polish side, Russia did not vacate the property after the consulate was closed.
The dispute also concerns ownership
Moscow considers the building Russian property. The Polish side maintains that after the dissolution of the USSR, the property passed to the State Treasury of Poland. Russian diplomats used the building under a free-use agreement signed between Poland and the USSR in 1951.
The Russian Consulate General in Gdańsk was closed in December 2025. Warsaw’s decision was linked by Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski to alleged Russian actions against railway infrastructure. Moscow rejected the accusations and, in response, announced the closure of the Polish consulate in Irkutsk.
After the consulate was closed, the building’s electricity and heating were cut off because of accumulated debts. Earlier, the Polish authorities also presented financial claims related to the use of the property, some of which had already been the subject of court proceedings.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the accumulated problems concerning the real estate should be resolved through consultations and a new intergovernmental agreement. For now, there is no final decision on ownership or the transfer of the building.
Sources: rbc.ru, radiogdansk.pl, pap.pl
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