The Embassy of Russia in Estonia. Photo credit: Ave Maria Mõistlik / commons.wikimedia.org / excerpt (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Tallinn has announced that the head of the Russian embassy in Estonia, Vladimir Lipaev, must leave the country, TASS reports. He will leave the Baltic Republic at the same time as Estonian Ambassador Margus Laidre leaves Moscow.
The Estonian ambassador has to leave Moscow by February, 7. Thus, the Russian authorities are lowering the level of diplomatic relations with the Baltic Republic to a charge d'affaires, the department explained. This decision was made in response to another unfriendly step taken by Tallinn: Estonia decided to radically reduce the number of employees of the Russian embassy, the Russian MFA specified.
Latvia also decided to lower the level of diplomatic relations with Russia, starting from February, 24. Latvian diplomats explained this by solidarity with Estonia.
The Lithuanian ambassador left Russia at the beginning of last summer. Eitvydas Bayarunas ceased to act as head of the diplomatic mission of the Baltic Republic on June, 1. A week later, the Lithuanian Consulate General in St. Petersburg was liquidated. The Russian authorities closed it after Vilnius decided to expel the Russian ambassador. The Russian Consulate General operating in Klaipeda was closed as well.
Russkiy Mir
