On July 6, in St. Petersburg, employees of the Federal Security Service detained Mart Lyatte, Consul of the Consulate General of Estonia in Russia. This is reported on the website of the press service of the department.
The diplomat was detained red-handed while receiving documents of a closed nature from a Russian citizen, with whom, as it became known later, Mart Lyatte met several times.
“This activity is not compatible with the status of a diplomatic employee and has a clear hostile nature towards the Russian Federation. Measures will be applied to a foreign diplomat in accordance with the norms of international law,” — the FSB message reads.
On August 3, it became known that the documents contained information about Russia’s plans and activities in the Arctic. As the RBC newspaper reported, all the data in the “secret folders” can be seen on the official websites of the Kremlin and the government. The FSB also published a video of the detention of Martha Lyatte to show “unfriendly actions on the part of Estonia”.
March Latte was recognized as persona non grata and left the country. After this incident, Tallinn expelled the third secretary of the Russian embassy, and the Russian Foreign Ministry on August 2, in response, declared one of the employees of the Russian diplomatic mission persona non grata. Soon he will also leave the country.
The Estonian Foreign Ministry claims that Mart Lyatte was at a working meeting at the Polytechnic University of St. Petersburg, and this incident is a provocation.
