The Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of Slovakia, Latvia and Lithuania and the Estonian chargé d’affaires and expressed its strong protest at the expulsion of Russian diplomats from those countries, the entity indicated in a statement.

The personnel declared persona non grata of the embassies of the Baltic Sea countries in Moscow must leave the Russian Federation within seven days, while those of the Slovak diplomatic mission must leave by May 6.

Slovakia declared on April 22 that three employees of the Russian embassy in Bratislava must leave within a week due to the current geopolitical situation.

A day later, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia declared four Russian diplomats persona non grata: one was expelled from Riga, one from Tallinn and two from Vilnius.

Officials in the four States said the measures were taken in solidarity with the Czech Republic, which blames Russia for explosions at an ammunition depot in the village of Vrbetice in 2014.

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