Russia & Estonia expel each other’s ambassadors

Russia and Estonia have expelled the ambassadors from each other’s countries in a tit-for-tat move, saying that their diplomatic missions will be headed by charges d’affaires.

Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Estonian Ambassador Margus Laidre and ordered him to leave the country by the 7th of February. The Ministry in the statement said that Estonia’s diplomatic representation from now on will be downgraded to a charge d’affaires that heads the European Union country’s mission in Moscow. 

Russia said that the move was made in retaliation to Estonia’s new unfriendly step to radically reduce the size of the Russian Embassy in Tallinn. In response, Estonian Foreign Minister



Urmas Reinsalu said, the Russian ambassador will leave on the 7th of  February as well, in accordance with the principle of parity.

The Estonian Foreign Ministry earlier this month asked Russia to reduce the number of its embassy staff to eight diplomats and 15 administrative, technical, and service staff members in order to reach parity in embassy staff by the 1st of February.

Estonia has reduced its bilateral relations with Moscow to the absolute minimum since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the Estonian leadership has purposefully destroyed the entire range of relations with Russia.