Estonia has decided to expel three diplomatic staff members of the Russian embassy in Tallinn.

The Estonian Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned the Russian ambassador and presented him with a diplomatic note declaring three Russian embassy officials with diplomatic status personae non gratae, the ministry said.

Undersecretary for Political Affairs Rein Tammsaar, who presented the note to the Russian ambassador, told him that the staff members' actions were in breach of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and therefore, they must leave Estonia within 72 hours, it said.

"All three have directly and actively undermined Estonia's security and spread propaganda justifying Russia's military action," it said.