The diplomat said that the comment by the Estonian counterpart of considering Latte’s arrest as ‘illegal and provocative’ shows the attempts to wrongly portray the situation.

She pointed out that Tallinn’s official stance is extremely cynical because there is solid evidence of this Estonian diplomat’s illegal activities, who was arrested red-handed when he was receiving delicate materials from a Russian citizen.

In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday reported that Estonian Consul Mart Latte has 48 hours to leave Russia because strong evidence of his illegal activities has been found.

It said that this employee of the Estonian consular office was declared persona non grata and must leave the Russia territory as soon as possible, according to Sputnik news agency.

According to the statement, the Russian party strongly protested against the intelligence collection activities, which are incompatible with diplomatic status, by the Estonian consul to Saint Petersburg.

Latte was arrested red-handed in that Russian city when he received classified material, Russia’s Federal Security Service reported.

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