"It is regrettable that Estonia continues to compete with EU states on the anti-Russian track," the Russian Embassy's Tuesday announcement reads. "We are convinced that the Estonian authorities' effective joining of the humanitarian blockade against Donbas, which has been deprived of state and banking services, social support, healthcare, education and communications for over five years, does not contribute to improving the situation in Eastern Ukraine."

According to the embassy, if Tallinn really wanted to help resolve the internal crisis in Ukraine, it would do well to use its influence on Kiev to convince the latter to restore normal support for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as provided in the Minsk agreements.

Estonia's Monday decision not to recognize the newly-issued Russian passports of residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts of Ukraine entered into force immediately.

According to Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Reinsalu (Isamaa), this decision came in response to a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in April according to which residents of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts were to be granted Russian citizenship under a simplified procedure.  

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