RUSSIA GOES PUBLIC ON ESTONIA SPY CASE.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced yesterday that it was expelling a member of Estonia’s embassy for alleged activities incompatible with diplomatic status — the usual euphemism for spying. No evidence was cited for this first-ever expulsion of an Estonian diplomat from any country. Estonia’s Foreign Ministry threw light on the matter by announcing within hours that it had confidentially asked Moscow a week ago to withdraw from Estonia a member of the Russian embassy in Tallinn caught red-handed in such activities. Estonia had told the Russian side that it wanted to avoid a public row in order to protect the two countries’ already tense relations from further damage, the ministry said. It felt double-crossed by Moscow’s decision to spurn the favor and, instead, move preemptively and publicly to accuse Estonia of improper activities. (BNS, Itar-Tass, Western agencies, May 8)

THE WESTERN REGION