Russian Ambassador: Denying entry to Polish official into Russia was retaliation

Sergey Andreev, the Russian Ambassador to Poland, told his country's TASS news agency on Tuesday, that Moscow's refusal to let the head of the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM), Sławomir Dębski, enter Russia was a retaliatory measure. The diplomat was speaking after a meeting at the Polish Foreign Ministry, where he had been summoned to explain the incident. As Andreev said, the PISM director had been included "on a list of people who had been denied access to Russia for three years, until 2021." The ambassador added it had been in retaliation, after two Russian political scientists were denied access to Europe's passport-free Schengen area last year, based on a decision made by Poland.