Russia orders Estonian ambassador to leave the country

Esto­ni­a’s ambas­sador to Rus­sia has been accused of “Rus­so­pho­bia” by the Krem­lin and ordered to leave the coun­try by Feb­ru­ary 7.

In a state­ment, Rus­si­a’s for­eign min­istry said Esto­nia had “delib­er­ate­ly destroyed” rela­tions with Moscow.

Mar­gus Lei­dl is the first Russ­ian ambas­sador to be expelled since it invad­ed Ukraine last year.

Esto­nia respond­ed by ask­ing the Russ­ian ambas­sador to leave on the same day.

Rus­si­a’s move toward Raidl comes after Esto­nia recent­ly ordered the down­siz­ing of its embassy in Tallinn.

Moscow has been asked to reduce its embassies from 17 to eight by the end of Jan­u­ary. Esto­nia said in a Jan­u­ary state­ment that its embassy offi­cials had stopped try­ing to bol­ster ties between the two coun­tries since the con­flict erupted.

Ten­sions have also risen as rep­re­sen­ta­tives of 11 NATO coun­tries met at a mil­i­tary base in Esto­nia last week to dis­cuss a new pack­age of aid to regain Ukraine’s ter­ri­to­ry and pre­vent fur­ther Russ­ian encroachment.

Lat­vian For­eign Min­is­ter Edgars Linke­vich has announced that he will sup­port Esto­nia and low­er the diplo­mat­ic lev­el with Rus­sia by Feb­ru­ary 24.

Mr. Rei­dre has been in the Russ­ian Fed­er­a­tion since 2018, hav­ing pre­vi­ous­ly held posts in the Unit­ed King­dom and Finland.

He worked at the Eston­ian embassy in Moscow and will now be replaced by junior diplo­mat Charles Defer.

“In recent years, the Eston­ian lead­er­ship has delib­er­ate­ly destroyed the entire spec­trum of rela­tions with Rus­sia,” said a Russ­ian For­eign Min­istry state­ment. In Tallinn, out­right Rus­so­pho­bia and cul­ti­vat­ing hos­til­i­ty towards our coun­try are ele­vat­ed to state policy.

“Esto­nia has tak­en anoth­er unfriend­ly step by dras­ti­cal­ly reduc­ing the staff of the Russ­ian embassy in Tallinn, paving the way for the break­down of rela­tions between the two coun­tries. We have decid­ed to demote the diplo­mat­ic rep­re­sen­ta­tives of both coun­tries to act­ing ambassadors.”

The state­ment added that Rei­dre was sum­moned by the min­istry on Mon­day and told to leave the coun­try. The state­ment con­cludes that the devel­op­ment of rela­tions between the two coun­tries now depends on Estonia.