Estonia told Russia to reduce its embassy staff by half, the country’s Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu announced on Wednesday. In total, thirteen diplomats and eight other members of staff will return to Moscow.
The changes are due to come into effect on February 1, according to the Estonian public broadcaster ERR News. The move aims to make the two countries' embassies have the same number of staff in each other’s capitals.
"Estonia considers the principle of parity very important in our relations with Russia," Reinsalu said in a press release quoted by ERR News. “Considering that, in light of this war of aggression, the Russian Embassy is not engaged in promoting Estonian-Russian relations, we believe that its [current] size is not justified.”
According to the minister, Estonia previously closed Russia’s consulates in Narva and Tartu and expelled three members of staff “who were actively undermining Estonia's security and spreading propaganda justifying Russia's military actions”.
Relations between the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have nosedived following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Vilnius has recently downgraded the diplomatic ties with Moscow and later expelled the Russian chargé d'affaires over undiplomatic conduct. The Kremlin responded in a tit-for-tat move, sending out the Lithuanian representative.
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