Russia, Estonia to reinstate military attaches

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Tallinn: Russia and Estonia will reinstate their military attaches to the embassies in Tallinn and Moscow, who had been called off earlier in the wake of the poisoning of ex-GRU colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, UK.

“We can consider the issue concerning the military attaches resolved,” the Russian embassy informed. “In particular, as for Estonia’s military attach·, he has already received a Russian entry visa. In turn, the Estonian Foreign Ministry informed us that they have no objections concerning the candidacy of the new Russian military attach·.”

In March, Russia decided to expel Estonia’s military attache as a tit-for-tat measure in response to Estonia expelling Russian diplomats. Earlier, several countries declared that they would expel Russian diplomats as a coordinated act against Russia’s alleged involvement in the Skripal case.

On March 4, ex-GRU colonel Sergei Skripal, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain, and his daughter Yulia suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury.

Claiming that the substance used in the attack had been a nerve agent allegedly developed in Russia, London rushed to accuse Moscow of being involved in the incident.

The Russian side flatly rejected all of the United Kingdom’s accusations, saying that a program aimed at developing such a substance had existed neither in the Soviet Union nor in Russia.