VILNIUS, August 14. /TASS/. Estonian authorities will not succeed in paralyzing the work of the Russian Embassy, and its diplomats will continue to carry out their duties, Moscow’s diplomatic mission in Tallinn said.

"We regard them [Tallinn's moves] as yet another attempt to impede the work of the diplomatic mission and paralyze the consular department under the increasingly difficult conditions created by the Estonian leadership in recent years. It will not work. Russian diplomats will continue to fulfill their professional duty to assist and defend the interests of tens of thousands of compatriots residing in the republic," the mission stated on its Telegram channel.

The Russian Embassy described the accusations from Estonian authorities as absurd and stressed that Tallinn’s hostile actions would not go unanswered.

On August 13, the Estonian Foreign Ministry declared a Russian diplomat at the embassy in Tallinn persona non grata and demanded his departure from the country. According to the ministry, "the diplomat in question has been directly and actively involved in undermining the constitutional order and legal system of Estonia." Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexey Fadeyev said that Estonia's expulsion of a Russian diplomat was not the first hostile action by Tallinn, and that Moscow would consider its response.