After the Kremlin accused Estonia of “Russophobia,” the country’s ambassador in Russia has been told to depart by February 7. The Russian foreign ministry stated in a statement that Estonia had purposefully ruined relations with Moscow.
Margus Laidre is Russia’s first expelled ambassador since invading Ukraine last year. Estonia reacted by requesting that the Russian ambassador depart on the same day.
Russia’s action against Mr Laidre comes after Estonia recently ordered the Russian Embassy in Tallinn to be reduced in size. By the end of January, Moscow was advised to decrease its embassy from 17 to eight. Estonia stated in a statement in January that embassy workers had stopped attempting to promote relations between the nations since the dispute began.
Last week, representatives from 11 Nato members met at an army facility in Estonia to explore a variety of additional packages to assist Ukraine in regaining land and repelling any future Russian incursions.
Latvia’s foreign ministry has also requested Russia’s ambassador to leave by February 24, and has stated that the nation will help Estonia by downgrading diplomatic relations with Russia.
Mr. Laidre has been assigned to the Russian Federation since 2018, having previously held the position in the United Kingdom and Finland. He was working from the Estonian Embassy in Moscow and will now be replaced by a chargé d’affaires, a lower-ranking diplomat functioning in the capacity of an ambassador.
“In recent years, the Estonian leadership has purposefully destroyed the entire range of relations with Russia. Total Russophobia, the cultivation of hostility towards our country has been elevated by Tallinn to the rank of state policy,” claimed the Russian foreign ministry.
“Now Estonia has taken a new unfriendly step to radically reduce the number of personnel of the Russian embassy in Tallinn, confirming the line towards the collapse of relations between our countries. As a response, the Russian side decided to downgrade the diplomatic representative in both countries to chargé d’affaires.”
According to the press announcement, Mr. Laidre was summoned to the ministry on Monday and requested to leave the country. The statement concluded by emphasising that the future of the two nations’ relationship is now in the hands of Estonia.