Russia and Estonia, a member of the NATO military alliance, said they are expelling each other’s ambassadors by February 7 in a new display of rancor over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, writes VOA.

Both Russia and Estonia disparaged each other as they announced that their diplomatic missions in Moscow and Tallinn would be downgraded and headed by charge d’affaires instead of ambassadors.

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Estonian Ambassador Margus Laidre and ordered him to leave the country in two weeks. Moscow said it was expelling Laidre in retaliation of Estonia’s “new unfriendly step to radically reduce the size of the Russian Embassy in Tallinn”.

In turn, Estonia said it was expelling Russian Ambassador Vladimir Lipayev.

Earlier this month, Estonia ordered Russia to cut its embassy staff in Tallinn to eight diplomats and 15 administrative, technical and service staff members in order to reach parity with the size of its staff in Moscow.