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Russian ambassador says Estonian special services checked all people contacting embassy

According to Vladimir Lipayev, Estonia has created an "absolutely abnormal situation for diplomatic relations"

Russian Ambassador to Estonia Vladimir Lipayev Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

Russian Ambassador to Estonia Vladimir Lipayev

© Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. Everybody who contacted the Russian embassy in Estonia raised a red flag with Estonian special services and were subjected to preventive measures, Vladimir Lipayev, the Russian ambassador in Tallin, said on Tuesday.

"There’s practically no one here to talk to. All communication we used to have, we should have - it has been blocked. Estonian representatives are practically banned from communicating with us, and if someone all of a sudden doesn’t know better than to reach out to our embassy, he immediately raises a red flag with the Estonian secret police and is subjected, for a start, to all manner of preventive work, pressed for details of that communication. People simply started to fear," the diplomat said on Solovyov Live television.

According to the Russian ambassador, Estonia has created an "absolutely abnormal situation for diplomatic relations."

"And in these conditions, it’s simply impossible to maintain any normal communication. Therefore, Russia simply had no other way out, and there is no point in maintaining relations with a country like Estonia at this stage at a level that’s as high as the level of ambassadors," Lipayev said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Monday that Moscow was downgrading diplomatic ties with Estonia after that country moved to significantly reduce Russian embassy staff in Tallinn and due to an overall deterioration of relations. The Estonian ambassador was ordered to leave Moscow by February 7.

The Estonian Foreign Ministry said later that Russian Ambassador to the country Vladimir Lipayev would have to leave on the same day that Estonian envoy Margus Laidre would be departing from Moscow.

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