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Russian security officials detained an Estonian diplomat in St. Petersburg on espionage suspicions, drawing a sharp complaint from the NATO member-state.
“Such charges are completely ungrounded. It cannot be regarded anything else than a provocation by Russian authorities,” Estonian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Aari Lemmik told the
Washington Examiner. “This is yet another example that Russia is not interested in constructive relations with its neighbors and the European Union.”
Diplomats have immunity under international law, but they can be expelled at the discretion of the host country. The detention of the Estonian diplomat, Mart Latte, coincides with military exercises by NATO allies and Russian forces in the Black Sea, not far from Crimea, the peninsula that Russian forces annexed from Ukraine.
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