The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Estonian Ambassador Margus Laidre and ordered him to leave the country by Feb. 7.
The statement issued by the ministry said that Estonia's diplomatic representation from now on will be downgraded to a charge d’affaires.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that the move was made in retaliation for Estonia’s “new unfriendly step to radically reduce the size of the Russian Embassy in Tallinn.”
"Total Russophobia, the cultivation of hostility towards our country have been elevated by Tallinn to the rank of state policy,” the statement read.
Russia has decided to downgrade the level of diplomatic communication between the two countries and asked the Estonian ambassador to leave. The Russian ambassador will also be leaving Tallinn, although he has not been officially expelled from Estonia.
The Estonian Foreign Ministry earlier this month ordered 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 Feb. 1.
Estonia has reduced its bilateral relations with Moscow “to the absolute minimum” since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said in a statement on Jan. 11. “Now we are setting a limit to the number of Russian diplomats working in Estonia in order to achieve parity. Today’s step is in correlation with the low point of our relations in general,” he said.
