Russia blames Baltic countries for the severing of most ties

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(Reuters) – The “hostile line” of the Baltic countries have led to the severance of most of their ties with Russia, the Russian foreign ministry said in remarks published on Sunday, warning also that Moscow will respond with asymmetric measures.

“Because of the openly hostile line of Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn, all interstate, interdepartmental, regional and sectoral ties with Russia have been severed,” Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman of the Russian foreign ministry told the RIA state news agency, referring to the capitals of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

She added that Moscow will continue to use diplomatic measures of influence on the Baltic countries.

Estonia last week accused Russia of violating international airspace regulations by interfering with GPS signals and the Baltic countries are among those that are “deeply concerned” about activities they called Russian espionage, NATO said last week.

Zakharova, without specifying what steps taken by the Baltic countries she was referring to, told RIA that Moscow will respond to the hostile actions by Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, with asymmetric measures.

“We will also respond to the hostile actions of the Baltic states with asymmetrical measures, primarily in the economic and transit spheres,” she said.

Russian police in February put Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Lithuania’s culture minister and members of the previous Latvian parliament on a wanted list for destroying Soviet-era monuments.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)