Estonia expels Russian ambassador

TALLINN - Estonia has asked the Russian ambassador to leave the country in response to a similar decision announced by the Russian side, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said on Monday.

Reinsalu said that in the principle of parity, Russia's ambassador to Estonia would leave at the same time as his Estonian counterpart, on Feb 7.

Also on Monday, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said his country recalled its ambassador from Russia and downgraded diplomatic relations with Russia to the level of charge d'affaires as of Feb 24.

He demanded that Russia do the same.

Rinkevics said Latvia made such move in a show of solidarity with its neighbor Estonia.

On Jan 11, Estonia asked Russia to reduce the number of diplomats at its embassy in Tallinn to eight by Feb 1, equivalent to the number of Estonian diplomats in Moscow.

Earlier on Monday, Russia expelled the Estonian ambassador, downgrading the level of diplomatic representation to charge d'affaires.