The ambassador of Russia to Estonia is the official representative of the president and the government of the Russian Federation to the president and the government of Estonia.

Before the downgrading in diplomatic relations, the ambassador and his staff used to work at large in the Russian embassy in Tallinn. There was a consular section in Tartu, and a consulate general in Narva.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in 2022, the Estonian government closed the consular section in Tartu and the consulate general in Narva and expelled its staff. In 2023, following the expulsion of the Estonian ambassador to Russia, Russia recalled its ambassador to Estonia. The post has been vacant ever since.

History of diplomatic relations

Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Estonia and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic were established on 2 February 1920, when Bolshevist Russia recognized de jure the independence of the Republic of Estonia, and renounced in perpetuity all rights to the territory of Estonia, via the Treaty of Tartu. Relations were maintained after the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1923, but deteriorated after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the USSR, and its provisions for the domination of the Baltic countries by the Soviet Union. Estonia in the Second World War was at first pressured to accept Soviet military domination, and then occupied by Soviet forces in 1940. A pro-Soviet government was installed, and on 6 August 1940 Estonia was annexed into the Soviet Union as the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic.

During the late Soviet Glasnost policy of Mikhail Gorbachev, new elections were held, returning a parliament that introduced a resolution for independence on 8 May 1990. Anticipating Estonian independence, Boris Yeltsin, chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR met with his counterpart, Arnold Rüütel, chairman of the Estonian SSR, in January 1991 to plan for transition. During the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, the Estonian parliament issued a Declaration of Independence from the Soviet Union on 20 August 1991, which was recognized by the State Council of the Soviet Union on 6 September 1991. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of the year, the Russian Federation was created. The first ambassador of the Russian Federation to Estonia, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, was appointed on 24 January 1992.

Amid a breakdown of diplomatic relations, in 2023, following the expulsion of the Estonian ambassador to Russia, Russia recalled its ambassador to Estonia. The post has been vacant ever since.

List of representatives (1920–present) Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to Estonia (1920–1923) NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesIsidore GukovskyDiplomatic representative11 February 19201920Diplomatic representative19201921Maxim LitvinovActing diplomatic representative26 December 192012 September 1921Leonid StarkDiplomatic representativeActing, prior to 15 November 192212 September 19211923

Soviet Union to Estonia (1923–1940) NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesLeonid StarkDiplomatic representative192312 May 1924Yuri MaltsevChargé d'affaires19241924Mikhail KobetskyDiplomatic representative21 June 192410 December 1924Adolf PetrovskyDiplomatic representative10 December 192431 January 1930Chargé d'affaires19241 January 1927Fyodor RaskolnikovDiplomatic representative6 March 193018 August 1933Diplomatic representative27 January 193426 September 1937Diplomatic representative1 November 193710 July 1940Diplomatic representative29 July 19406 August 1940

Russian Federation to Estonia (1992–present) NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesAleksandr KuznetsovAmbassador24 January 19921 September 1992Aleksandr TrofimovAmbassador1 September 199223 July 1997Ambassador23 July 199715 September 2000Konstantin ProvalovAmbassador15 September 200025 July 2006Ambassador25 July 200614 July 2010Yuri MerzlyakovAmbassador14 July 201018 August 2015Ambassador18 August 201514 December 2021Vladimir LipayevAmbassador14 December 202123 January 2023Declared Persona non grata

References