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Estonia to abstain from closing Russian embassy in Tallinn, top diplomat says

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it was downgrading its diplomatic ties with Estonia to the level of charge d’affaires in response to Estonia’s radical reduction in the amount of staff at the Russian Embassy in Tallinn

VILNIUS, January 25. /TASS/. Estonia is not planning to shut the Russian embassy in Tallinn, and its diplomatic mission in Moscow will also continue its work, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said on Wednesday.

"Our embassy in Moscow will stay. We are not going to close the Russian embassy on Estonian territory, nor has Russia announced similar intentions," the Estonian national broadcaster ERR quoted the country’s top diplomat as saying. The Baltic republic considers it appropriate to have a diplomatic mission in Russia, taking into account "the interests of Estonian citizens and for consular reasons," he explained. Reinsalu added that Estonia intended to "act on a parity basis" in its diplomatic relations with Russia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it was downgrading its diplomatic ties with Estonia to the level of charge d’affaires in response to Estonia’s radical reduction in the amount of staff at the Russian Embassy in Tallinn. Estonian Ambassador to Russia Margus Laidre was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, where he was instructed to leave Moscow by February 7, 2023.

Later, the Estonian Foreign Ministry announced that Russian Ambassador to Tallinn Vladimir Lipayev would have to exit the Baltic country at the same time as the Estonian ambassador is set to leave Moscow. The Russian envoy complained that the Estonian authorities had created an atmosphere which he said was "absolutely abnormal for diplomatic relations" and that Russia "simply had no other choice" but to downgrade diplomatic relations.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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