VILNIUS (Reuters) -Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have expelled a total of 10 Russian diplomats, the foreign ministries of the three Baltic countries said on Friday.
Lithuania expelled four diplomats while Latvia and Estonia each expelled three each.
“All ungrounded expulsions of Russian diplomats will be met with an appropriate answer,” said Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry.
The diplomats were expelled in a coordinated move “in connection with activities that are contrary to their diplomatic status and taking into account ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine”, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics tweeted.
Estonia’s foreign ministry said it had expelled diplomats because they “directly and actively undermined Estonia’s security and spread propaganda justifying Russia’s military action”, its foreign ministry said in a statement.
Lithuania said its expulsions were made “in solidarity with Ukraine”.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas, writing by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche and Jason Neely)
