Russian Foreign Ministry Expels Estonian Embassy Staffer

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Estonian ambassador Margus Laidre to express protest over the recent expulsion of a Russian diplomat and to announce that a staffer of the Estonian embassy has to leave the country within seven days

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2021) The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Estonian ambassador Margus Laidre to express protest over the recent expulsion of a Russian diplomat and to announce that a staffer of the Estonian embassy has to leave the country within seven days.

On July 15, the Estonian Foreign Ministry declared a Russian embassy staffer persona non grata in the wake of Moscow's earlier decision to declarer persona non grata Estonian consul in St. Petersburg Mart Latte over his involvement in a spying incident.

"Estonian Ambassador in Russia M. Laidre was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry. We expressed our resolute protest and notified him that a staffer of the Estonian diplomatic mission in Moscow is declared persona non grata on the basis of principle of reciprocity.

He is ordered to leave the territory of the Russian Federation within a week. We offer our Estonian partners to stop and not to further complicate the situation that they have already aggravated to the limit. Otherwise, a new decisive response from the Russian Foreign Ministry will follow. At the same time, the Estonian side will be fully responsible for the deterioration of bilateral relations," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.