Wrong flag causes diplomatic faux pas in Poland

October 6, 2006 During the official visit of Sergey Lavrov,, to Poland, which was to revive the strained diplomatic relationship between the two countries, an embarrassing mistake was committed by the hosts. When Lavrov was greeted by the entrance to the building, the courtyard was decorated with, rather than. The Ministry's employees quickly discovered the mistake and replaced the flags with the right ones, and the Russian part did not express any concern about the.

It became, however, one of the top stories in the Polish media that day, prompting extensive ridicule. On the Russian part, the, Russia's government newspaper, commented ironically that the discontinuity in contacts between Warsaw and Moscow was so prolonged that the Polish Foreign Ministry apparently forgot what the Russian flag looks like. The gazette also went on to joke about the possible troubles Minister Lavrov might have had distinguishing between Poland's current and, who are identical twins.

While the Russian paper also recalled a similar incident that occurred more than a year ago in Athens, where the Russian flag was hung upside down, in Poland an event that was related to was the hanging of the on the Polish President's limousine upside down, which made it almost identical to flags of  or.