NATO and EU member states Estonia and Latvia ordered Russian ambassadors to leave the country.
The move comes after Moscow downgraded diplomatic ties with Estonia and accused it of being ‘thoroughly anti-Russian’.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are among the NATO countries that are pressing Germany to supply battle tanks to Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the ambassador of Estonia will leave the country next month.
In response, Estonia has instructed the Russian ambassador to leave the country by February 7.
Expressing solidarity with Estonia, Latvia has asked the Russian ambassador to leave the country by February 27.
Latvia and Estonia said the two countries would downgrade diplomatic ties with Russia and appoint moderators.
Lithuania expelled Russia’s ambassador in April 2022.
Why did Russia do this?
Moscow has justified that Estonia had asked to reduce the number of Russian embassy staff in its capital, Tallinn.
It should be noted that on January 11, Estonia asked Russia to reduce the number of its diplomats to 8, the same number of diplomats are posted in the Estonian embassy in Moscow.
