Polish President Andrzej Duda’s chief foreign policy advisor has defended the decision by the Vatican’s Warsaw representative to invite the Russian ambassador to a party, despite the diplomat’s presence causing a “problem” for other guests.
The Rzeczpospolita newspaper reported on Thursday that the Apostolic Nunciature had invited Ambassador Sergey Andreev to the party.
According to the paper, his presence “was a problem” for some guests, including other ambassadors who had not been informed of Andreyev’s presence.
But Jakub Kumoch told the private television channel Polsat News on Friday that such an invitation “certainly falls within diplomatic norms.” “Andreyev has been accredited in Poland, no one has expelled him and there are no plans to do so,” he added.
However, he admitted there could be some “crack” at the party “as not everyone wants to meet a particular person.”
According to Kumoch, it was Russia itself that put its own diplomats in such a position by attacking Ukraine.
“I feel pity for Russian diplomats these days because they are rightly subjected to a certain ostracism or boycott because being seen with the Russian ambassador is not something that earns you any points,” Kumoch said.
Later on Friday, Lukasz Jasina, the foreign ministry spokesman, acknowledged that “the Holy See and its representative, the Apostolic Nuncio, had the right to do so, but they should consider whether they should.”
Jasina went on to say that “there are things that are not present in the diplomatic protocol, including not inviting criminals to your table.”