Estonia expels Russian diplomat due to "security threats"

The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced a decision to deport one of the Russian Embassy’s diplomats due to his alleged activities that undermine "Estonia’s security and constitutional order," the ministry said in a statement on March 24.

"Today 24 March, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia summoned the charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy and presented a diplomatic note on declaring a member of the diplomatic staff of the embassy persona non grata," the statement reads, according to TASS.

"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 Estonian Foreign Ministry.

"The diplomat in question has been engaged in direct and actively undermining Estonia’s security and constitutional order, spreading propaganda that justifies Russia’s military action and causing divisions in Estonian society," the statement added. 

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced last month that it was downgrading its diplomatic ties with Estonia, with the entire range of bilateral relations demolished. 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 is set to leave Moscow.

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.