«The head of the Estonian diplomatic mission was presented with a protest in connection with the fact that on August 13, without any grounds, an employee of the Russian Embassy in Tallinn, working under diplomatic status, was declared persona non grata,» the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in the afternoon. Russia decided to respond in kind to Estonia’s “hostile” step, having already announced this intention in August. On August 13, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the chargé d’affaires of the Russian Embassy and handed over a diplomatic note. The first secretary of the Russian Embassy was therefore declared persona non grata, and the diplomat had to leave Estonia. When delivering the note, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Russian Embassy representative that Estonia does not intend to tolerate Russia’s activities against Estonia’s constitutional order and internal stability, and deemed it necessary to express this very clearly.