MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry has summoned Estonian Charge d'Affaires in Moscow Jana Vanamelder and informed her that an Estonian embassy employee will be expelled in retaliation, the ministry said.

"Based on the principle of reciprocity, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the country will expel a diplomatic employee of the Estonian embassy in Moscow. The Estonian side was told that its hostile actions will always be duly retaliated," the ministry said, adding that it had also strongly protested Tallinn's decision to declare a Russian diplomat working in Estonia persona non grata.

On March 19, the Estonian newspaper Postimees reported, citing the country’s Foreign Ministry, that an employee of the Russian embassy had been declared persona non grata. According to the newspaper, Tallinn said that Moscow had carried out actions that allegedly targeted the country's independence and sovereignty. The Russian Foreign Ministry vowed to retaliate.