The Lithuanian military attache, Lieutenant Colonel Sigitas Butkus, was declared persona non grata in Russia "due to activities damaging to Russia's interests", Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Butkus has been given 48 hours to leave Russia, it said.

The move followed Lithuania's expulsion of three Russian diplomats and the tit-for-tat expulsion by Russia of three Lithuanian diplomats this spring. Similar incidents have also occurred between Russia and the other two Baltic republics Latvia and Estonia.

"We see the Russian actions as a reciprocal measure for the expulsion a month ago of three Russian diplomats out of Lithuania," Lithuania's Deputy Foreign Minister Albanas Januska told AFP.

He said Moscow was also refusing to accredit the replacement for Buktus, and that the Lithuanian foreign ministry would name another candidate.

Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis was quoted Friday by the Baltic News Service (BNS) as describing the three Russians deported in July from Vilnius as having engaged in "activity incompatible with diplomatic status".

Moscow has strongly objected to the accession of the three Baltic republics to NATO in March. Its protests have grown even louder since NATO decided to station warplanes in Lithuania to patrol the three countries' airspace.

Earlier this week Estonia complained that a Russian spyplane had infringed its airspace, a charge that Moscow denied.

burs/mkh

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