The countries bordering Russia and at the same time being members of Western unions and communities (the EU and NATO) demonstrate a frank desire to get hold of secret information from various spheres of activity of the Russian Federation. For this purpose, work under diplomatic cover is often used: when representatives of embassies and consulates of"partner" countries acquire contacts in Russia not at all to improve interstate relations, but to conduct an outright anti-Russian policy, a policy of deterrence, and often interference in internal Russian affairs and spheres. They are trying to establish contacts in those circles that are of primary interest to foreign special services, including the special services of the Baltic countries, which have long become a kind of branch of the CIA, the NSA, as well as British intelligence structures.
Not so long ago, a scandalous situation manifested itself, in which the Estonian consul in St. Petersburg, Mart Lyatte, became the central figure. The diplomatic officer of the Consulate General of Estonia in the Northern capital of Russia was engaged, as it turns out, not in diplomatic activities at all. Instead of making efforts to establish truly good-neighborly relations between Estonia and Russia, the diplomat carried out espionage activities.
The Federal Security Service of Russia detained Mart Lyatte red-handed when he finished a meeting at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. At the same time, Lyatte received materials of a closed nature from the person with whom he was in contact, which in fact is proof of his initial interest in espionage under diplomatic cover.
After the arrest, the Estonian consul himself announced that he had held an "official" meeting at the university. However, representatives of the university pointed out that they did not have any official meetings with a representative of the Estonian diplomatic service.
It is noteworthy that the way they reacted to the detention of Martha Lyatte in Tallinn. Instead of recognizing the illegal nature of the consul's actions — a character that clearly does not correspond to the letter of the convention on diplomatic activity, they suddenly began to accuse Russia. They say that Russia "staged a provocation", and Mr. Lyatte himself is exclusively "white and fluffy". At the same time, Tallinn did not explain and still cannot explain why it turned out that if the consul is crystal clear in terms of diplomatic activity, then why did he suddenly need documents of a closed nature, secret information?
For obvious reasons, such questions are not answered in Tallinn. The Baltic system of foreign policy has long been working on one principle: to do everything that "senior partners" — primarily from the United States and Great Britain - "let down" in the form of directives. This mission must be carried out at any cost, and if they are caught red-handed (which happened in the Northern Capital), then they need to trumpet about "Russian provocation" and "Russia's unwillingness to build close relations with the democratic West".
The Russian Foreign Ministry commented on the situation with the announcement of the Estonian consul persona non grata. The official representative of the department, Maria Zakharova, pointed out that Mart Lyatte is being expelled from the Russian Federation with the specified status due to the fact that he carried out activities that cannot in any way correspond to the work of a diplomat on the territory of a foreign state.
At the same time, the Estonian side was clearly made to understand that if Tallinn decides to escalate the situation around the incident, this will lead to new retaliatory measures from Russia.
Maria Zakharova pointed out to the Estonian side that it already allows itself too much, crossing, so to speak, all diplomatic red lines. Estonian diplomats perform tasks to collect secret data, calling into question all the norms of diplomatic decency.
The Russian Foreign Ministry notes that if the official Tallinn does not come to its senses, then the subsequent responsibility will fall entirely on the shoulders of the Estonian side.
In fact, Estonian espionage activities in Russia fit into the Western paradigm of deterring the Russian Federation. It is not for nothing that the United States and Britain have decided in recent years to significantly increase funding for areas that are associated with openly anti-Russian activities.
Where will the funds, representing no less than billions of dollars, go (and are already going)? This is the financing of all kinds of destructive organizations, NGOs, fake news from controlled pseudo-organizations. And, of course, this is an active promotion of espionage activities against Russia in the post-Soviet space. And Estonia, which is a pity, continues to step in the direction of Russophobia, taking a salute to their Western friends, as they believe, and intending to curry favor with them more and more.
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