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Moscow to respond to Estonia’s decision to expel Russian diplomat — Foreign Ministry

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced last month that it was downgrading its diplomatic ties with Estonia, with the entire range of bilateral relations having been destroyed

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. Moscow will respond in kind to Estonia's previously announced decision to expel another Russian diplomat, the Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS on Friday.

"There will definitely be a response," the ministry stated.

The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced earlier in the day a decision to deport one of the Russian Embassy’s diplomats for allegedly undermining "Estonia’s security and constitutional order."

"The activities of the person in question have violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and they have to leave Estonia by 29 March," according to the statement from the Estonian Foreign Ministry. "The diplomat in question has been engaged in directly and actively undermining Estonia’s security and constitutional order, spreading propaganda that justifies Russia’s military action and causing divisions in Estonian society."

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced last month that it was downgrading its diplomatic ties with Estonia, with the entire range of bilateral relations having been destroyed. The Baltic country’s ambassador was instructed to leave Moscow on February 7.

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.

According to Lipayev, the Estonian authorities have created an atmosphere "which is absolutely abnormal for diplomatic relations" and have left Moscow no other choice but to downgrade diplomatic relations.

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