Foreign Ministry demanded that the Estonian ambassador leave Russia
Russia has decided to downgrade the diplomatic representative in the two countries to charge d’affaires. The measure was taken in response to Estonia’s demand to reduce the number of Russian diplomats in Tallinn.
The Foreign Ministry summoned Estonian Ambassador Margus Laidre and ordered him to leave Russia by February 7, the agency reported on Telegram.
The ministry said in a statement that Russia is downgrading its diplomatic representative in the two countries to charge d’affaires. The decision was made in response to Estonia’s demand to reduce the number of employees of the Russian embassy. As of January, the list of diplomatic staff included 17 people, including the ambassador. Tallinn said that eight diplomats and 15 administrative and technical workers would be able to work in the diplomatic mission.
The Foreign Ministry believes that the Estonian authorities in recent years have been “purposefully destroying” relations with Russia. “Total Russophobia, the cultivation of hostility towards our country have been elevated by Tallinn to the rank of state policy,” the statement says. Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu, announcing the reduction in the number of employees of the Russian embassy, explained this with “the goal of achieving parity or equivalence in the number of posts in the embassy.” The list of employees of the Estonian diplomatic mission, along with the ambassador, now includes six people.
Shortly thereafter, the Russian diplomatic mission in Estonia temporarily stopped accepting applications for renunciation of citizenship. The embassy said the disruption was due to actions by Tallinn “deliberately obstructing the functioning of the Russian diplomatic mission.”
After the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Estonia closed its consulate general in St. Petersburg and its representative office in Pskov. In mid-August, the embassy in Moscow also suspended the acceptance of visa applications – this is due to the decision to suspend the issuance of Schengen visas to Russians. At the same time, Estonia remained the only Baltic country that did not lower the level of diplomatic relations with Russia. Lithuania and Latvia adopted such a decision in April 2022.
