Russia expels ambassador from Nato member Estonia after it calls for Ukraine to get German tanks

Move comes after Estonian bid to reduce the size of the Russian embassy in capital Tallinn

Russia has announced that it is downgrading its relationship with Nato member Estonia by asking the country’s envoy to leave by next month.

In a statement on Monday, Russia’s foreign ministry said both countries would be represented in each other’s capitals by an interim charge d’affaires instead of ambassadors.

It added that the move was in response to an Estonian bid to reduce the size of the Russian embassy in capital Tallinn.

“In recent years, the Estonian leadership has purposefully destroyed the entire range of relations with Russia. Total Russophobia, the cultivation of hostility towards our country have been elevated by Tallinn to the rank of state policy,” the Russian foreign ministry statement said.

“The Estonian regime has got what it deserved,” said Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

Russia’s moves comes after Estonia joined other Ukrainian allies last week in sending more weapons of its own.

This comes as Estonia, along with its Baltic neighbours Latvia and Lithuania, were among a group of Nato allies lobbying strongly for Germany to provide its Leopard battle tanks to boost Ukraine in fighting Russian forces.

As Germany’s Leopard 2 tanks are manufactured indigenously, other countries legally need permission from the German government to transfer them to third parties.

As a result, Germany has come under heavy pressure to either transfer its tanks to Ukraine or at least allow European allies to export.

On Sunday, in the clearest signal yet that Berlin’s European allies could deliver German-made equipment to the Ukrainian front lines, foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said Germany would “not stand in the way” of Poland sending tanks to Ukraine.

“For the moment the question has not been asked, but if we were asked we would not stand in the way,” she was quoted as saying to a French television station.

Later, German defence minister Boris Pistorius said a decision on the delivery of tanks to Ukraine is expected to be made soon.