Russia expelling 4 employees of Lithuanian embassy, 3 from Latvian embassy, 3 Estonian diplomats - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW. March 29 (Interfax) - Russia is expelling three employees of the Latvian and Estonian embassies each and four employees of the Lithuanian embassy as a retaliatory measure, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

"Based on the principle of reciprocity, the terminated accreditation of four employees of the Lithuanian embassy, three employees of the Latvian embassy, and three employees of the Estonian embassy and the Pskov office of the Estonian consulate general in St. Petersburg has been announced," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The decision was relayed to the three ambassadors, who were summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.

"A strong protest was expressed to the ambassadors in connection with the provocative, completely unfounded expulsion of staff members of the Russian embassies to the Baltic countries," the ministry said.

The Russian side demanded that the diplomats, who had been declared personae non grata, "leave the territory of the Russian Federation within the same period assigned for the departures of employees of the Russian missions from the Baltic countries," it said.