China News Agency, Moscow, January 23 (Reporter Tian Bing) The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on the 23rd, announcing a reduction in the level of diplomatic relations with Estonia.
According to a statement issued on the official website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the same day, in recent years, Estonian leaders have been deliberately sabotaging relations with Russia, and have promoted comprehensive hatred of Russia and the cultivation of anti-Russian sentiments as a national policy.
The statement pointed out that Estonia has now adopted a new unfriendly measure to demand a significant reduction in the number of personnel at the Russian embassy in Tallinn.
In response, Russia decided to downgrade the diplomatic representatives of the two countries to chargé d'affaires ad interim.
The statement stated that the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Estonian ambassador to Russia Margus Laidre on January 23 to lodge a strong protest against the actions of the Estonian government.
The Estonian ambassador must leave Russia on February 7, 2023.
The statement also stressed that the Estonian side should take full responsibility for the development of the relationship between the two countries.
The Russian side will continue to respond further to the hostile actions of the Estonian government.
According to the TASS news agency, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 11th of this month that the Estonian side notified the Russian ambassador to Estonia Vladimir Lipayev on the same day, requesting that the Russian side remove the diplomatic personnel from the Russian embassy in Estonia before February 1, 2023. The number is reduced to 8 to meet the decision requirement made by the Irish side that "the number of embassy personnel of the two sides in each other's country is equal".
The Estonian side believes that under the background of the situation in Russia and Ukraine, the Russian embassy in Estonia "has not engaged in the promotion of Russia-Ireland relations", so there is "no basis" for the Russian embassy in Estonia to continue to operate at the current scale of personnel.
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