Estonian Foreign Ministry demanded to reduce the number of Russian diplomats in the country
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The Estonian Foreign Ministry informed the Russian ambassador in Tallinn of the need to reduce the staff of the Russian diplomatic mission by February 1, according to message on the website of the Estonian Foreign Ministry.
The total number of Russian diplomats should be reduced to eight people, and administrative, technical and service personnel to 15. The ministry said that Tallinn considers it necessary to equalize the number of diplomatic missions of both countries.
“Given that the staff of the Russian embassy is not engaged in promoting relations between Estonia and Russia in the context of an aggressive war, we see that the current size of the Russian representation is not justified,” said Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu.
The minister also said that since February 2022, Estonia has reduced relations with the Russian Federation to a minimum, closing the Russian consular offices in Narva and Tartu, as well as expelling three Russian diplomats who “actively undermined the security of Estonia.”
The Russian embassy now has 21 diplomats and 23 other employees, Reinsalu said. transmits Interfax.
After the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, a number of countries began to expel Russian diplomatic workers. In mid-March 2022, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia did this. Riga and Tallinn expelled three employees of the Russian embassy each, four were expelled from Lithuania. On the same day, Bulgaria declared ten employees of the Russian Foreign Ministry persona non grata in connection with activities “incompatible with their status.” On March 23, the Polish Foreign Ministry decided to expel 45 Russian diplomats on suspicion of espionage. On March 28, North Macedonia demanded the expulsion of five Russian diplomats.
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