Russian Embassy in Estonia.

(AFP file photo)

(Central News Agency) Estonia and neighboring Latvia also asked the Russian ambassador to leave after Russia downgraded diplomatic relations and expelled each other's envoys today, citing Estonia's anti-Russian attitude.

Both Baltic states are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

A group of NATO allies including Estonia, Latvia and another Baltic state, Lithuania, have been clamoring for Germany to supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks to bolster its military's ability to fight Russian aggression, Reuters reported.

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Russia's foreign ministry said today it had told Estonian envoys to leave in February and that the two countries would only send chargé d'affaires, not ambassadors, in each other's capital in the future.

Estonia subsequently responded in kind.

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said he had given the Russian envoy to leave the country by February 7.

"As Russia is planning a large-scale attack, we will continue to support Ukraine and call on other like-minded countries to increase their aid to Ukraine," Rehnsarou said in the statement.

Latvia, which is also a member of the European Union (EU) with Estonia, did the same against Russia today in a show of solidarity.

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics tweeted that they had told the Russian envoy to leave the country by February 27.

Both countries also downgraded diplomatic relations with Russia to the level of chargé d'affaires ad interim.

Due to the ongoing brutal Russian aggression against #Ukraine and in solidarity with #Estonia, #Latvia will lower level of diplomatic relations with #Russia effective February 24, demanding Russia to act accordingly

— Edgars Rinkēvičs (@edgarsrinkeviks) January 23, 2023

Lithuania has expelled Russian envoys as early as April 2022 and downgraded each other's diplomatic representatives.

It was in response to Ukraine's accusation that Russian troops massacred civilians in the town of Bucha, near the capital Kyiv.

Moscow noted that today's action was in response to Estonia's decision to downsize the Russian embassy in the Estonian capital Tallinn.

"In recent years, the Estonian leadership has deliberately undermined relations with Russia at all levels. Tallinn is thoroughly Russian-phobic, raising the hostility cultivated against our country to the level of state policy," the Russian foreign ministry said.

On the 11th of this month, Estonia asked Russia to reduce the number of diplomats in its embassy in Tallinn to eight, the same number as the number of Estonian diplomats in Moscow.

All three Baltic states joined some other Western allies last week in sending more of their own weapons to Ukraine.