VILNIUS, January 23. /TASS/. Latvia’s authorities have obliged Russian Ambassador Mikhail Vanin to leave the country before February 24, the Latvian foreign ministry said on Monday.

"The Russian ambassador must leave Latvia before February 24, 2023. The Latvian ambassador will also leave Russia before February 24," it said.

The Russian ambassador was summoned to the Latvian foreign ministry on Monday to be notified about the government’s decision to lower the level of diplomatic relations with Russia from February 24. The move was motivated by both the situation around the Ukrainian crisis and in solidarity with Estonia and Lithuania.

The Russian foreign ministry said earlier on Monday that it is lowering the level of diplomatic relations 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, which expressed a strong protest over the actions of the Estonian authorities and obliged him to leave Moscow by February 7, 2023.

Later, the Estonian foreign ministry announced that Russian Ambassador to Tallinn Vladimir Lipayev would have to leave the country at the same time as the Estonian ambassador from Moscow.

Lithuania recalled its Ambassador Eitvydas Bajarunas from Moscow on April 24, 2022 over the developments in Ukraine. Later on, on May 23, 2022, President Gitanas Nauseda decreed to reduce diplomatic representation between his country and Russia, which formalized the situation legally.