Russian Ambassador Lipaev: The West wants to give Estonia weapons to keep St. Petersburg at gunpointMOSCOW, January 24 — RIA Novosti.
The West plans to give Tallinn weapons that could threaten St. Petersburg, Russian Ambassador to Estonia Vladimir Lipaev said on the air of the program "Solovyov Live".
Lipaev believes that the West had an interest in creating an "anti-Russian outpost" in Tallinn for economic, political, cultural and military pressure.
On the eve of the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on lowering the level of diplomatic relations with Estonia. It says that Tallinn has taken a new unfriendly step to radically reduce the size of the Russian embassy, which confirms the line on the collapse of relations between the countries.
As a response, Moscow decided to lower the level of the diplomatic representative in both countries to the charge d'affaires. In addition, the Estonian ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Monday. He is due to leave Russia on February 7.
Later, the head of the Estonian diplomatic department, Urmas Reinsalu, said that Vladimir Lipaev should leave Tallinn simultaneously with the departure of Estonian Ambassador Margus Laidre from Moscow.